Charles Phoenix’s Slide of the Week: Disneyland Double Exposed, 1961

Disneyland Double Exposed, 1961

Sleeping Beauty’s Castle is slightly double exposed on the House of the Future. Its mid-evil meets mid-century! Medievalism and modernism have never been so close. For ten years, between 1957 and 1967, the all-plastic House of the Future was just outside of Tomorrowland perched on a pedestal steps from the castle They both represent fairy tales – one speaks of the future as the other of the past.

Who is supposed to be posing for this photo? Is it the twins wearing matching puffed-sleeved-pinafore party dresses over white bobby socks and black patent leather? Or the woman who wears sensible yet stylish shoes and her two followers whose stride seems clearly interrupted?

I don’t know. But I do know that the little girls look like they just stepped out of an animated Disney classic. And their dresses match the giant TV screen-like windows of the house that nearly 50 years after it was built and forty after it was demolished still looks futuristic. Design-wise the House of the Future is a miracle of modernity because it’s still ahead of its time. This was living beyond the space age. Way beyond. So far beyond that time hasn’t gotten us there yet.

Can you just imagine a House of the Future tract? I can imagine dozens of them dotting a hillside covered with bright yellow flowers and lush greenery. Would they be all refrigerator white or come in decorator colors? I can see even the two, three, and even ten story versions. My imagination is inspired and my spirit is soaring!

Here’s to the Houses of the Future in our future and YOU!
Charles Phoenix