Tuesday, March 03, 2015

House of the Future Mystery



It saves me a lot of research time when my slides are date stamped. This particular Kodak slide was stamped December 1967. I thought it was so cool to see the construction of "New" Tomorrowland going on around the Monsanto House of the Future. Somehow, the plastic marvel defied the odds and proved to be a problem when the wrecking ball just bounced off the exterior. According to Disney lore, the Monsanto House of the Future took 2 weeks to demolish.



When I looked up the date of "New" Tomorrowland's debut, I was reminded that it was July 2, 1967. This means that whoever took this photo waited an awful long time to develop it. Still, this is probably one of the last shots taken of the durable Home of the Future. Looking in the window, it appears that even though the sign out front has been dismantled, the interior is still furnished.



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7 comments:

K. Martinez said...

Nice rare shot of the New Tomorrowland construction. I love the open view of the Matterhorn.

I doubt this is one of the last shots of the House of the Future since it lasted from June 12, 1957 to December 1, 1967 (Disneyland Encyclopedia). I have seen later photos of it co-existing with New Tomorrowland.

http://www.matterhorn1959.com/blog1/panorama4.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v470/bananaphone5000/GORILLLAS/HOF67.jpg

Thanks, Dave.

Daveland said...

Ken - I have to remember that I need to be a stickler for details with you watching out there!

K. Martinez said...

Dave - Yeah, I'm probably as annoying as the grammar police. You do a fantastic job as-is.

Sean and Kim Smith said...

Wonder why they wanted to demolish the house of the future instead of moving it. Too bad, it was the one cool thing Monsanto has done.

MIKE COZART said...

That's correct--in the Wonderful World of Disney episode "From Pirates of the Caribbean to The World of Tomorrow"....the opening day footage of the ride on the PeopleMover shows the Monsanto House of the Future as the PeopleMover cars enter the new Adventure Thru Inner Space--the camera shows a view of guests in their PeopleMover car and in the background is the Plastic House.

-Mike

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Um, my first visit to Disneyland was as a child, in July of 1967. I had a map of Disneyland, one of those fanciful drawing - huge paper - thing. The house of the future was prominently featured. I wanted to go so bad that I ran through the park and ignored Main Street. Though I'd never been, I knew exactly how to get to the HOTF. But when I turned towards the (very new) Tomorrowland, the House was either gone, closed, or walled off. I'll never forget being so disappointed that I couldn't see the house. Well, at least I was able to see "Primeval World," the diarama, the next thing on my list.