The House of the Future: Walt Disney, MIT, and Monsanto's Vision of Tomorrow

By David A Bossert

Step inside The House of the Future, the iconic Disneyland attraction that captured the imagination of countless visitors during its ten-year run from 1957 to 1967. In this meticulously researched and beautifully illustrated book, readers will take a journey through the conception, construction, opening, lasting impact, and ultimate closure of this groundbreaking exhibit.

The House of the Future was a pioneering experiment in living that showcased cutting-edge construction techniques and futuristic household appliances, including the now-ubiquitous microwave oven. It was a glimpse into a world of endless possibility and unbridled optimism, brought to life through the vision of Walt Disney, his Imagineering team, MIT, and Monsanto.

With stunning, never-before-seen photographs and illustrations, this book offers a deep dive into the world of The House of the Future and the lasting impact it had on generations of visitors.

The House of the Futureis more than a historical artifact; it's a testament to the power of imagination, innovation, and the relentless pursuit of progress.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The Old Mill Press
• Release date: Jun 18, 2024
• ISBN: 9798987058961

Book preview

Front Cover of The House of the FutureBook Title of The House of the Future

Text Copyright ©2024 David A. Bossert

All rights reserved. Published by The Old Mill Press, Inc. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted, in whole or in part, in any form (beyond that permitted by Section 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press) or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any past, present, and future information storage, retrieval, and display systems, without written permission from the publisher. For more information contact: The Old Mill Press @ www.theoldmillpress.com

Cover, interior design, and layout by Nancy Levey-Bossert

Cover illustration: Andy Baird

End Pages: House of the Future Site plan blueprint, Courtesy Monsanto Archives Washington University Libraries.

Edited by Michele Orwin

Copy Edited by Diane Hodges

Index by Connie Binder

Set in Futura PT and Boucherie Sans Inline used courtesy of Adobe Typekit,

New Press Eroded by Galdino Otten

eBook Edition: June 2024

eBook ISBN: 979-8987058961

The House of the Future: Walt Disney, MIT, and Monsanto’s Vision of Tomorrow and The Old Mill Press, Inc. are not endorsed by or associated with The Walt Disney Company, Disney Enterprises, Inc., M.I.T., Monsanto or any of its corporate sponsors or affiliates. For the purposes of information, commentary, and history, this book may references various Disney copyrighted material, trademarks, and registered marks owned by The Walt Disney Company, Disney Enterprises or Monsanto and its affiliated companies. Copyrighted products, titles and terms, including attractions, processes, brand names, and other such names, are used in this book solely for editorial, scholarship, and information purposes under the Fair Use Doctrine. Neither the author nor the publisher makes any commercial claim to their use, and neither is affiliated with The Walt Disney Company, M.I.T., Monsanto or any of its associated partners or companies. All photographic images shown in this book are individual works of art and are not sold by the author or publisher. See the associated photo credits for all applicable attributions. The Monsanto House of the Future attraction narration transcript is used for the purposes of information, commentary, and history. All non-Disney trademarks referred to or depicted in this book including, but not limited to, Monsanto Acrilan®, Fiberglas®, SynSkin®, Heywoodite, Saflex®, Dymaxion, Lustrex®,Ultron, Lotus Swivel Armchairs, Coconut Chair, George Nelson Swag Legged Desk, HermanMiller, Fiberglasstol, Westclox, Dymaxion House, Formica®, FLOR, panelescent plaques, Ring Doorbell, Howard Johnson Hotel Brand, and other names mentioned in the text are the property of their respective owners and are used or noted solely for editorial, scholarship, and information purposes.

House of the Future, September 1962.

DEDICATION

With Sincere thanks to:

Benjamin Breitbart

David Ransom

TABLE OF CONTENTS

inline-image Foreword

inline-image Acknowledgement

inline-image Predicting the Future

inline-image Reinventing the House

inline-image Exterior Design and Construction

inline-image Tour Map

inline-image Atoms for Living Kitchen

inline-image Children’s Bedroom

inline-image Parent’s Bedroom

inline-image Bathrooms

inline-image Living Room of the Future

inline-image Dining and Family Room of the Future

inline-image Communication and Climate Control

inline-image Opening Day, The Public Reception

inline-image Epilogue: The House of the Future Legacy

inline-image Author’s Note

inline-image End Notes and Photo Credits

inline-image Attraction Narration

FOREWORD

Between 1957 and 1967, the House of the Future, sponsored by Monsanto, was on display in Tomorrowland at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. During that time, this house, this vision of tomorrow, hosted 20 million visitors, people curious about the future of living and what developments in design, science, and technology would do to improve the lives of ordinary people.

At Disneyland, Walt Disney had opened themed lands that had to do with stages of history, fantasy, and culture, but he was also very interested in exploring the future and imagining new developments. And throughout his life, Walt showed an interest in new technologies, new worlds, and new discoveries, as well as in supporting cutting-edge entrepreneurs and scientists.

The GI Bill was established to provide a range of benefits to veterans returning from World War ll. The bill was created in 1944 and was active from 1944 to 1956. An important provision of the GI Bill was low-interest, zero down payment home loans for servicemen with more favorable terms for new construction compared to existing ones. This encouraged millions of families to move out of urban apartments into new suburban subdivisions. And the volume of construction of single-family homes in America took a huge jump. This move to the suburbs, in fact, was one of the reasons that Walt Disney located Disneyland in Anaheim, on the route toward Orange County, which was rapidly developing rather than closer to his studio operations.

It is no surprise then that Monsanto, a company on the scene exploring the modern use of plastics for the improvement and simplicity of life, would seek out MIT and its architecture and civil engineering departments to look for an opportunity to build and showcase a new kind of house. A new kind of dwelling that used pre-manufactured component parts that could be more long-lasting and could be built, in many locations, with less overall labor. There was also a great focus on the quality of life for families living in homes, sustainability, creativity, and fulfillment of life in a home.

This brings me to David Bossert’s wonderful book, The House of the Future: Walt Disney, MIT, and Monsanto’s Vision of Tomorrow. Bossert is well-qualified to be the first author to put out this definitive work on the House of the Future. He is a 32-year veteran of Disney and is an expert on Disney design and Disney culture; and is a long-time resident of Southern California with many visits to Disneyland before and after he worked at Disney.

Bossert never visited the House of the Future while it was open at Disneyland. But when you read the amount of detail that he has been able to assemble about the conception, development, building, and modification of this house, there is no question he has come as close as anyone could in knowing every part of this structure. He has more insight than any of us could previously imagine.

This book will appeal to different kinds of people. There will be those who are Disneyland fans, some of whom may have seen the House in their lifetime. There will be people who missed the house and just want to know more about it, and they will find lots of detail in this work accompanied by beautiful images. And then I am certain there’s going to be a group of architects, designers, urban planners, and cultural historians, as well as interior designers and furniture creators, who will see this book as a chronicle of a milestone in design history, one that involved some of the finest residential design thinkers of its time.

And these are key developments worth celebrating. This 10-year legacy of the House of the Future, all of which Bossert has chronicled in detail, parallels many aspects of cultural and Disney history as well.

First, as Bossert documents, there was MIT’s design research to develop houses that would require less labor to build, to recommend materials and methods to drive quality, life style, and sustainability, and to deliver to the mass market. Second, there was movement by the building industry itself, looking for new materials and new processes that could make major components in houses, such as sinks, toilets, and bathroom floors, in such a way as to make them foolproof when they were installed.

The design team set out to create a home that was new and livable, and that got rid of the encumberments of traditional materials, using unique properties of plastics that could make clean, maintainable, and continuous curved shapes.

The house was viewed by Walt Disney, Imagineer John Hench, and their team as being an attraction that proved dreams could be made real when you dare to envision the future and the fantastical worlds of tomorrow. They embraced a future of unbridled enthusiasm and a belief that tomorrow was going to bring us great things and a chance to rethink life and make it better. These are certainly themes that Walt had first demonstrated with Disneyland and ultimately in his dream for Epcot, which began to take shape just before he died.

This book addresses the great challenge that Walt always had and Imagineers today still have, which is how does one talk about the future without ending up with a dated attraction? Almost as soon as anything is finally built, as futuristic as it was hoping to be, it’s almost out of date, especially today when developments proceed at so exhaustingly fast a pace.

Monsanto was interested in what would make not just the construction of houses better but also in ways of making home life easier to maintain, easier to run, and giving families more time for their own activities, learning, being together, and spending less time just trying to maintain, outdated housing systems. Many visionaries worked on this project.

Among the great contributions of Bossert’s book are his detailed documentation and descriptions of not only the layout, the materials used, and the design techniques of the house but also the names of designers. Those preeminent designers might have been lost to history had Bossert not brought them to the forefront and reminded us of all their essential contributions to this project.

The presence of the House as a showcase at Disneyland, gave all the stake holders the ability to do guest surveys. This enabled the diverse audience of Disneyland to comment on the designs, and to be part of the forward thinking.

And it’s doubtful, as Bossert says, that Walt could have done many of the things that he did at Disneyland or at the New York World’s Fair without sponsors like Monsanto, who were visionary enough to understand that Disneyland could be a great venue for their new ideas and that they could reach a large audience.

The House of the Future never stayed static. It was always moving forward, and that was much of the excitement behind it. At its midpoint, there was a large renovation, and many wonderful visionaries inside and outside of Disney contributed to updates. But during the redesigns, there was more use of John Hench and Walt’s trusted designers at WED Enterprises, which would later become Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI). This made sense because the WED Design team now had a running track record and a unique sense of the Disneyland audience.

Bossert chronicles the 1960, and 1964 remodels, how they updated and refreshed the concept, and how the interiors gave the exhibit a more sophisticated look while dealing with important things like how to design better home spaces for children and how we’d all deal with the proliferation of in-home screens and other technologies.

One thing Bossert notes, the house, considering its impact, was surprisingly small. It was truly a showcase house, and many people who would see it today would think of it as a fantastic vacation house. As Bossert points out, it’s something we could all wish to see offered by the Disney Vacation Club!

By the time the house had hosted 20 million visitors, the decision was made that it was time for Disneyland to move forward with other priorities. But the house had done its job. It had stirred the imagination and given a glimpse of tomorrow to millions of people. And as Walt Disney had said, it had been a step into the future with predictions for the public of constructive things to come.

It is worth noting that at the time, the public had a high fascination for plastics and how much plastics were going to do for life. And plastics indeed did revolutionize so many aspects of American life. But, as Bossert points out, it has since been clearly seen that plastics were a mixed blessing. Plastics have improved