









“The Future Won’t Wait”

From Monsanto Magazine in 1960

In 1960, Monsanto Chemical Company reprinted an article from their Monsanto Magazine as an 8-page promotional booklet. This booklet is reproduced here in its entirety. The Monsanto House of the Future had been open at Disneyland since 1957. It needed a major update in 1960—because, according to the article, “many of the things deemed ‘futuristic’ as recently as 1957 are simply ‘contemporary’ today.” Enjoy this trip 50 years back in time. I like how the 6 million visitors to the attraction between 1957 and 1960 are referred to as “six million volunteer ‘researchers’” and as “12 million tramping feet.” Dont miss the lists of materials and participants at the end of the article. So many trademarked chemicals! Thank you to Yesterland reader Brian Eychner for sharing this promotional booklet. , Curator of Yesterland, January 8, 2010

The Monsanto “Plas­tics Home of the Future,” tested by more than 12 million tramping feet, has demon­strated the rugged practi­cality and attrac­tive­ness of plas­tics as struc­tural materials. A major restyling keeps its decor ahead of the times.



More than six million volunteer “researchers” have helped Monsanto

test this unique plas­tics structure, where

The Future Won’t Wait DISNEYLAND, CALIF.

M ONSANTO’S “PLASTICS HOME OF THE FUTURE,” which has wel­comed some six million house guests over the past three years, attests that it’s hard to stay ahead of the times these days. No one else has built a home quite like this one, it’s true—although numer­ous people have said they’d like to. To be sure, not many of its crystal-ball fea­tures have been duplicated on a mass-production basis. Yet a number of the exper­i­mental concepts that it introduced in 1957 already are corner-store realities. A completely new “golden glow” interior has succeeded the original fur­nish­ings and decor, because many of the things deemed “futuristic” as recently as 1957 are simply “contem­porary” today. Structurally, the house has remained strong and sound. Its four canti­levered wings, projecting 16 feet from their supporting center core, have settled less than 1/20 of an inch per year at their outer ends. Their rein­forced-plastic skins and the rigid plastic foam sandwiched between them show no signs of wear. Monsanto engineers, who have made careful measure­ments and tests peri­od­ically, rate the house’s structural performance “outstanding.” The new interiors, by architect Vincent Bonini, rely on lighter colors, lighter weight and a “suspended-in-air” motif to gain wide-open spacious­ness. Tables, chairs, sofas and floor coverings are custom contoured to conform to the flowing curves of the house’s molded plastic shell—a trend that will grow, Bonini believes, as houses emerge from the conven­tional cube shape and begin to take advan­tage of the freer forms made possible by modern structural plas­tics materials. Synthetic polymers—in plas­tics, paints and fibers—still hold sway through­out the “Plas­tics Home of the Future.” Some of the materials themselves are new; others exploit new patterns, textures and produc­tion processes that have been devel­oped during the early years of the plas­tics home. New matte finishes on many of the plas­tics surfaces give them a sleek, velvety touch; new decorative tech­niques are displayed in plastic louvers, safety glass interlayers and even plas­tics sculpture. Newly developed exterior latex paint covers the house. New poly­car­bo­nate plastic makes its debut here in clear, durable dining tumblers.



Partitions in children’s room utilize folding plastic screen, lami­nated and molded plastic cabinets, honey­comb-rein­forced plastic panels.

The plas­tics home’s electrical and electronic equipment retains its far-forward look. Still off in the future, so far as the housewife is concerned, are several of the kitchen’s advanced appliances. The micro­wave range, power-operated refrig­erated shelf units and the ultra­sonic dish­washer can’t be bought from a nearby dealer yet, but appliances now on the market already resemble them to some extent. Two-piece, molded plas­tics bath­rooms similar to those in the “Plas­tics Home of the Future” are being turned out daily, along with plas­tics lava­tories and counter sinks. As yet, though, fixtures in local stores don’t have push­button height adjust­ments to facilitate use by children, as one lavatory does here.



Decorative safety glass doors form front of master bedroom storage units; one-piece molded plastic bath­room is at right. Plastic grillwork, cabinets form room divider.

These and other holdover features combine with the new refurbishing to keep Monsanto’s exper­i­mental plas­tics home one of the most forward-looking structures anywhere. The building grew out of four years of joint study and design work by Monsanto and the Massa­chu­setts Institute of Tech­nology. The project team took a long look at how plas­tics were being used in construc­tion in the mid-50’s and explored other ways their unique properties could be applied in the years ahead. It was decided that only a full-scale display house would demon­strate these grow­ing appli­cations both to builders and the public.



Children’s bedroom fur­nish­ings, contoured to wall curves, make use of plastic laminates, “Acrilan” and nylon fibers, vinyl floor covering, recessed plastic light panels.