Raphael Thys
Most of us have seen all sorts of weird future predictions from the past – from flying cars to rocket-propelled trains, many people imagined the future as a high-tech paradise. Sadly, even though a flying car sounds like a great way to skip traffic jams, a lot of predictions did not come true and some of them even sound pretty hilarious nowadays.
Like most things, houses weren’t spared from future predictions and people from the past came up with all sorts of crazy designs, from rolling to underwater houses. Angie’s List collaborated with marketing agency Neomam Studios to create visualizations of seven elaborate future home concepts that people came up with in the 1900s. “Sometimes astute, sometimes idealistic, often absurd, reflecting today on these dreams of how we might have lived creates a sense of nostalgia for that lost innocence,” described the homes Angie’s List.
Check out the craziest future home predictions of the past in the gallery below!
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Moving House (1900s)
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The “House Rolling Through The Countryside” concept was created by artist Jean-Marc Côté in the early 19th century and featured in a collection of cigarette cards that predicted what life in the 2000s would be like. This type of house raises a question: if two of these would crash into each other, would it be considered a car accident or a house accident? Whatever the case may be, we hope that Willy Wonka behind the wheel has good insurance.
Glass House (1920s)
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This sleek and modern looking house, called the Vitaglass house, supposedly utilizes a special kind of glass that admits ultraviolet waves, providing a year-round summer to the inhabitants. Throw in a couple of mercury arc lamps for those shady days and you got yourself a nice greenhouse for humans. Sadly, Vitaglass was never a commercial success and this type of home design never caught on.
Rolling House (1930s)
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The Rolling House was first featured in an issue of Everyday Science and Mechanics back in September 1934. The magazine assured that these types of homes are the future – which is cool if you prefer living inside a giant golfball. The creators thought that the round design would ease construction as new homes could simply be rolled in but, for pretty obvious reasons, the design didn’t really catch on.
Lightweight House (1940s)
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The Lightweight House was featured in a 1942 publication called “This Unfinished World” and suggested using a super-light material called “aerogel” to create buildings. These types of homes would supposedly be resistant to earthquakes and require less resources to build. We actually have a similar material today – graphene aerogel, the lightest material currently created. It can be 3D printed and scientists are working on ways to use the material to lighten modern constructions.
Space House (1950s)
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In December 1953, Science Fiction Adventures magazine suggested an extreme house design – a glass dome built in outer space. It was designed by Puerto Rican cover artist Alex Schomburg and had a design reminiscent of a snow globe.
Dome House (1950s)
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Back in June 1957, Mechanix Illustrated stated this in one of their stories: “Current research in solar energy and architecture indicates that by 1989 you may be living in a house with an exterior made entirely of steel-hard glass.” The dome would supposedly rotate, allowing people living inside to efficiently use solar energy. The house would have also included futuristic hydroponic vegetable patches outside of the dome.
Underwater House (1960s)
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The Futurama II Pavilion was created by General Motors for the 1964 New York World’s Fair and it blew peoples’ minds as it was something never seen before. “Our new knowledge and skills — new power and mobility — have given us a new and wondrous underwater world,” said guide Ray Dashner during the fair. “A miracle of gifts from the limitless treasury of the sea.” You have to agree that this design looks almost as cool as the Under underwater restaurant recently opened in Norway!