1939 New York World's Fair: The World of Tomorrow

I've gone down the rabbit hole. Current obsession: the 1939-1940 New York World's Fair. 

It all began when I happened upon an image of the General Motors exhibit. 

The Futurama was one vision of what 1960 would look like.  People stood in line for hours to view this 35,000 square foot exhibit sponsored by General Motors and designed by Norman Bell Geddes.

 Visitors had the opportunity to ride past small realistic landscapes, complete with sophisticated 7 lane highways filled with radio controlled cars. After the Great Depression, people welcomed this grand vision of the future. There is some interesting social commentary within the film To New Horizons: "On all express city thoroughfares, the rights of way have been so routed as to displace outmoded business sections and undesirable slum areas whenever possible. Man continually strives to replace the old with the new..."  Watch the full video here, or an abbreviated video here.

Salvador Dali's "Dream of Venus".

Alvar Aalto's Finnish Pavilion.

Food building Number Three.

Irish Pavilion - shaped like a shamrock.

 Communications building.

WPA/New Deal represented at the 1939 World's Fair.

Oh what a magical place it must have been!

Craving more? There are tons of pavilion images here.

Sources: The '60s at 50, Wired Magazine, Discovery, NY Times, Pyramid Beach, Edifice Complex, Shook Photos, New Deal Network, Wolfsonian, Kings Academy, Archiseek, 1939nyworldsfair, TT n Sheldy, Night at the Mouseion

Early Prefab: The Venturo House

Although more well-known for his earlier design of the Futuro House, In 1971,  Finnish architect Matti Suuronen designed the awesome mod pod that is the Venturo CF-45. The 45 square-meter design was marketed for a number of purposes, including recreational. 

 The Venturo was extolled as "maintenance free" because it's exterior materials were fiberglass, anodized aluminum and glass. The low-weight, pre-fabricated module allowed for installation without much interference to the surrounding landscape, because heavy earthmoving equipment was not required.

 Despite is't great mod design and small-house luxury features (anyone care for a steam?), only 19 Venturo homes were sold, and production was quickly shut-down.

But wait - what about this large collection of Futuros and Venturos, located on the northern coast of Taiwan?

Mystery surrounds the later Taiwanese Venturos, which are located in a mostly-deserted Taiwanese resort park that is thought to have been built around 1979. Who was manufacturing the later Venturo homes? A couple of the homes have residents, and have been maintained. 

Sadly, most of them look like this.

A random Venturo sighting, this one was located on the highway between Kyoto and Osaka. The home was reportedly removed by the landowner in 2008, it's current location is unknown (sadly, I suspect it no longer exists).

This restored Venturo is now a cafeteria/information center at the Kivik Art Centre in Sweden.

Sources: treehugger, judit bellostes, s_p_o_c, akaaokiiro, wanli

A Cotswald Cottage in Phoenix - Then and Now

A Cotswald cottage in Phoenix? Yes, Phoenix. (Arizona that is). Built in 1931, this unique home was painstakingly restored in 2002-2004. And added treat: An early homeowner contributed her pictures, taken in 1947 when her family first purchased the home.

See more images at Bloodhound Realty.