Icon: Disney’s Monsanto House of the Future
One of two free attractions at Disneyland sponsored by Monsanto was this walk-through tour of a plastic house with plastic furnishings and fascinating modern appliances such as dishwashers, microwave, intercom system, and closets filled with polyester clothes. Designed by Marvin Goody & Richard Hamilton, the house only existed for the 10 year length of Monsanto’s lease, at which time they moved on to the Adventure Thru Inner Space attraction. Goody & Hamilton were MIT architecture faculty members sponsored by Monsanto to find new markets for their plastic products. They took 2 years to design the 1,280 sq. ft. home, at which time they formed their own private firm to take over the commercial planning of the project.
When it was dismantled, the house was so indestructible that the crew gave up and left some of the support pilings in place (they can still be seen in Neptune’s Grotto between the Tomorrowland entrance and Fantasyland). Supposedly the planned one-day demolition ended up taking two weeks as the wrecking ball just bounced off the exterior. Workers cut the house into pieces with hacksaws.
Monsanto House of the Future, 1957–1967, by Marvin Goody & Richard Hamilton, Disneyland, Anaheim, California, USA.
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Wednesday, April 8th, 2009
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“Icon: Disney’s Monsanto House of the Future”
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Daily Icon features extraordinary Designers, Architecture and Products, with a special focus on furniture, accessories and lighting for the home.
April 8th, 2009 at 8:08 am
Do want. This reminds me of Ren and Stimpy’s house of tomorrow.
April 9th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
I actually love the side-by-side couch / chair
April 10th, 2009 at 11:58 pm
Looks like they took ideas from the dymaxion house by Buckminster Fuller. It’s on display at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn Michigan.
October 6th, 2009 at 9:47 pm
this is awesome. –i want one.