Here’s What People in the 1900s Thought Homes Would Look Like Now

It’s human nature to dream up what’s to come, to prognosticate, to hypothesize about what life will be like in the future. It’s always been this way. So you can imagine that way back when, people had some interesting takes on what our world would look like today—especially when it comes to homes. I mean, Disney’s TV movie “Smart Home” has basically come true, but other than that, most of the ideas around what our homes would look like in the future never came to fruition. Recently, Angie’s List teamed up with Neomam Studios to bring some of those fabulous-yet-false predictions to life. Take a look below at their renderings of what people in the past thought future homes might one day look like.

Angie’s List points to an article in a 1934 issue of Everyday Science and Mechanics predicting that spherical homes would be the next big design trend because it would “make the remote construction and delivery of new homes more straightforward.” But how would I set up my furniture with no straight angles?! Oh, the humanity!

Okay, this one looks both terrifying and intriguing. The cover of Science Fiction Adventures Magazine in December 1953 featured work done by cover artist Alex Schomburg depicting free-floating glass houses IN SPACE. I take back the intriguing part, this is just terrifying. Hey, at least the house has tinted windows to protect you from all that direct sunlight.

It’s a present-day mobile home on steroids. Designed in the early 1900s by artist Jean-Marc Côté’s, his “House Rolling Through The Countryside” was part of a collection of cigarette cards, “imagining what life would be like in the year 2000.” I mean, I guess it’s not that far off? As far as predictions for 100 years from now go.

Part of General Motors’  Futurama II Pavilion during the 1964 World’s Fair, this was GM’s way of saying, sure, we can look up to the skies, but let’s not sleep on the oceans. OR SHOULD WE? You get it.

Hey, good on the people behind the June 1957 issue of Mechanix Illustrated for thinking about sustainability. They believed that by 1989 this Dome House might be a reality and that its greatest strength would be that this rotating (!!) dome would “allow homeowners to make efficient use of the sun’s energy.” Honestly, I can see this one coming true at some point. A rotating dome house, you guys!

To see more “Houses of the Future According to the Past” head over to Angie’s List.