June 23, 2009

House Shaped Like Elephant (Jan, 1937)

Filed under: Architecture, Just Weird — @ 12:33 pm
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jan, 1937
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House Shaped Like Elephant
A HOUSE built in the shape of an elephant is located at Margate City, N. J. Erected in 1882 by James V. Lafferty, the novel home is said to be the only one of its kind. The body is 38 feet long, the circumference, 80 feet. The head is 26 feet long and 48 feet around. Legs are 22 feet long with a diameter of 10 feet. Glass eyes have an 18-inch diameter.

June 22, 2009

Plastic Bathtub (Dec, 1947)

Filed under: House and Home — @ 10:23 am
Source: Mechanix Illustrated ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Dec, 1947
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Plastic Bathtub is a great time saver, says Dolly Down, nightclub singer, above. You can sun-bathe and water-bathe at the same time. She’s shown here atop a Miami hotel.

June 10, 2009

The House of a Thousand Servants (Jul, 1931)

Filed under: House and Home — @ 10:10 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jul, 1931
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The House of a Thousand Servants

WHAT might be called the most unusual house in America is the home of O. H. Caldwell, of Cos Cob, Connecticut. Mr. Caldwell is a noted electrical engineer and the former Federal Radio Commissioner. This house has over a thousand servants and yet has no servant problem, for all of the servants are electrical gadgets of one kind or another that do all the work.

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May 26, 2009

New for the Home (Jan, 1951)

Filed under: House and Home — @ 11:54 pm
Source: Mechanix Illustrated ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jan, 1951
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New for the Home

Springless Mattress, dreamed up by a Swedish inventor, is light, bouncy as innerspring types. It’s been tested for durability, is said to have orthopedic values. Secret is the core of air-filled plastic. Susquehanna Mills, N. Y. C.

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May 12, 2009

Bureau-Shaped Building Houses Bureau of Information (Jul, 1931)

Filed under: Architecture — @ 12:15 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jul, 1931
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Bureau-Shaped Building Houses Bureau of Information
AS a novel means of advertising their town’s chief industry, the manufacture of furniture, the local Chamber of Commerce of High Point, N.C, has erected a building resembling a huge bureau to house its headquarters. The novelty of the structure lies in the sign on the mirror, for the building is actually a bureau—a bureau of information. This unique building was erected by popular subscription and is located in the heart of the town.

April 30, 2009

One Man’s Castle (Apr, 1957)

Filed under: House and Home — @ 11:10 pm
Source: Mechanix Illustrated ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Apr, 1957
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One Man’s Castle

SIMON BINDER’S home is literally his castle. The 60-year-old wood-carver spent 11 painstaking years and countless thousands of hours remodeling the main floor of his two-and-a-half story Vancouver, B. C, home in 17th century baroque style. Every stick of furniture was fashioned by Binder, as were the ornate ceiling frescoes, simulated marble drapes, graceful wooden arches and the fireplace of raised flowery designs in this unique house.

New Wiring Idea May Make the All-Electric House Come True (May, 1949)

Filed under: House and Home — @ 12:15 am
Source: Science Illustrated ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: May, 1949
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New Wiring Idea May Make the All-Electric House Come True

Spread out in the photographs above are symbols of what electrical engineers see as a revolution in home wiring. They show what can, in an ideally wired house, be done with a new type of electrical control. It’s called remote control, or relay switching.

The young housewife is showing how, from a single bedside panel with remote control switches, she can turn on the percolator in the kitchen, turn radios on or off, light up a flood lamp in the yard for a late-homecoming husband.

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March 31, 2009

Hydraulic Control OPENS Garage Door (Nov, 1931)

Filed under: House and Home — @ 9:21 pm
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Nov, 1931
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Hydraulic Control OPENS Garage Door

OPERATED from ordinary water pipes with pressure furnished by a simple pipe attachment, an inexpensive new device for opening and closing garage doors from the driver’s seat of the automobile proves a great convenience to motorists. It will open or close, lock or unlock garage doors without the driver’s leaving the machine.

A simple and easily-handled hydraulic device, consisting of two valves, one valve with lock and key, is placed in a convenient location on the edge of the driveway where it is within easy reach of the driver’s arm. The other valve is placed inside the garage. Either valve opens and closes the doors.

March 24, 2009

Latest in Homes Has Skyscraper Frame and Glass Walls (May, 1932)

Filed under: Architecture — @ 10:24 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: May, 1932
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Latest in Homes Has Skyscraper Frame and Glass Walls

CUBICAL in construction and designed to build for $2500 or less, the model house shown in the photo at the left has just been completed in Syosset, Long Island. It is intended to serve the needs of families whose income is $1800 a year or less.

Simple modernistic lines, with no fancy and expensive curlicues, characterize the design. Steel is used for the framework, giving it the durability of a skyscraper skeleton. Much glass is used to admit plenty of light.

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March 22, 2009

Combination Stool and Dryer Saves Steps for Housewife (Sep, 1930)

Filed under: House and Home — @ 9:04 pm
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Sep, 1930
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Combination Stool and Dryer Saves Steps for Housewife

AN EXTREMELY convenient and serviceable device to have around the kitchen or wash house is the combination clothes dryer and kitchen stool, shown at the right. It serves ordinarily as a stool, but when it is desired to utilize it as dryer, the metal rods are pulled up through the holes in the seat and locked in place so that they stand out horizontally.

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March 3, 2009

Lamp Shade in Football Motif (Apr, 1932)

Filed under: House and Home, Sports — @ 11:09 pm
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Apr, 1932
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Lamp Shade in Football Motif
SOMETHING distinctly unique in the way of desk lamps was introduced at a University of Southern California sorority house. The shade was cut from parchment and made to resemble a football helmet, while the upright, cast in metal, forms a football. The lamp attracted wide attention and gave a sportive air to the room which it decorated.

February 26, 2009

Ash Tray Breathes (Dec, 1947)

Filed under: House and Home — @ 12:03 am
Source: Mechanix Illustrated ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Dec, 1947
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Ash Tray Breathes and inhales the smoke that usually drifts over into a non-smoker’s eye. It draws all smoke down into the stand and keeps the room free of fumes, too. Penny Martin, of Los Angeles, is shown using this new and welcome invention. It operates electrically, uses house current.

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