A few years ago I posted a much longer article about this amazing house. Among its rather unique features is an underwater tunnel connecting the outdoor pool to the one inside. This was designed to double as a method of decontamination in case of a nuclear war, but seems more like a gimmick. If anyone knows if this house is still standing, please do tell.

HOUSE FOR THE ATOMIC AGE (Aug, 1953)

Mr. Hayes Builds His Dream House
HAL B. HAYES, Los Angeles bachelor, pulled out all the stops when he built his home on a hill in Beverly Hills. A designer and contractor by profession, he has always liked to entertain in a fanciful setting. This time, with a “little” imagination, he has realized his greatest dream much to his guests’ delight.

Twin towers, 110 stories high, world’s tallest

Two 1,350-foot buildings, planned for New York City’s World Trade Center, will top the Empire State Building by 100 feet, not counting its TV antenna. Each of the 110-story towers will have twice the office space of the Pan Am Building’s 2.4 million square feet, now the world’s most spacious.

The two towers, a plaza, and smaller buildings will occupy 16 acres in downtown Manhattan.

Construction will cost the Port of New York Authority $350 million. Minoru Yamasaki, who designed the Science Pavilion at the Seattle World’s Fair, and Emory Roth & Sons are the architects.

Portable “tree” apartment house
An easy-to-assemble “tree” apartment house with cabins on its branches has been designed by Hoist Dollinger, German architect. The building is intended for temporary accommodations. The 320-foot concrete mast has a base only 16-1/2 feet square. An internal elevator and stairs provide access to the cabins. One of the structures is planned for the 1967 Montreal World’s Fair.

New Dry Ice Fire Extinguisher

THE illustration below shows a demonstration of a new type fire extinguisher now on the market. It is designed especially for use in the home where its chemical compound will not mar the furniture or the rugs. The compound is carried in a container resembling the standard fire extinguisher. A hose is attached which has a flared nozzle. The fire extinguisher sprays a form of dry ice especially destructive to flames.

Switch Closes Window, Turns on Heat for Early Riser

THERE would be fewer people late for work these winter mornings if the room were warm enough to permit arising in comfort, but a warm room is impossible if we keep the windows up to scare the T. B. bugs away.

That is, it was impossible until the inventive genius of G. A. Brewer, a sophomore at Western Reserve Academy, came to the rescue of himself at least.

The alarm clock wakes Mr. Brewer, even as you and I. But does Mr. Brewer throw the clock out the window and pull the covers over his head? He does not! He merely reaches over and throws a switch, which closes the window and turns on the radiator. Give us the combination, Mr. Brewer.

Washer in a Kitchen Table Needs No Storage Space
The problem of storing a full size electric washer in apartments is solved by combining it with a table that gives daily service in the kitchen. Occupying a space twenty-four by forty inches, the machine is complete with wringer and built-in rinse and wash tubs. It is finished in oven-baked white enamel and has a stainless porcelain top which is removable and hangs at the side when the washer is used. Seven and one-half pounds of dry clothes is its capacity. A pump to drain the tubs into the sink can be obtained if desired.

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Glass FURNITURE One of New Household Appliances

Electricity is harnessed to operate this can opener. Place the can on the revolving platform and the lid comes off neatly in two seconds.

New mechanical tea brewing pot now on the market manufactures the beverage uniformly brewed and free from impurities. An automatic “time flip” is a feature. This has a timing vent which allows hot water to escape into the pot in three, four or five minutes, as desired. When time cup is empty an air float lifts the tea cylinder up out of the water, completing the steeping.
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You can read part I here.

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MODERN WONDERS of an Ancient Art Part II

By H. W. MAGEE

Part II

IMAGINE a metal house coated with glass, a home with all the delicate coloring and enduring beauty, inside and out, of age-old cloisonne.

The development of porcelain enameled iron for architectural purposes makes such a home both possible and practical. As a building material, porcelain enameled iron—actually a form of glass fused on to a metal base—offers an admirable union of utility and beauty for it possesses the strength of metal plus the hardness and permanence of glass. It can be produced in any hue or combination of hues in the mineral spectrum, it is colorfast, impervious to weather, non-porous, rustproof and can be made acid-resisting. And it is good for a lifetime of service.
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Are Skyscrapers Bombproof?

American Type of Building May Be Answer to Raiders

AMERICAN skyscrapers, often the butt of foreigners’ jokes, stand ready to attain a new and indispensable usefulness. In the view of experts, they constitute a highly satisfactory, if not impregnable, defense against all types of bomb attacks. Even without added safeguards, they can safely protect millions of city dwellers and workers from explosives, gas, and incendiaries. And by the addition of sandbags and steel in vital sectors, they can be made almost as safe as the most elaborate shelter. Read the rest of this entry »

“Slums”

New Suntrap Apartments

Homes where everyone will get his share of sunlight, with roads and gardens elevated well above street level, are shown in model form at the Modern Architectural Research Group Exhibition at the New Burlington Galleries, London, England. The occupants of these apartments will get their full measure of daylight regardless of the position of the sun in the skies.

Structures such as these are to be erected in “slum” areas.

Homes Reflect Owners’ Curious Whims

TAKING their cue from the celebrated old woman who lived in a shoe, modern home builders, moved by whims or necessity, have fashioned strange dwellings which outrival the most fantastic nursery rhyme.

Perched on the sands of a southern California beach, for instance, is an ocean-going yacht which has never put to sea. It was built as a home, not a ship; yet the nautical influence is complete from ladder entrance and porthole windows to a dummy anchor which has been dropped overboard into the sand. Bunks are substituted for bedrooms and the stern is arranged for garage space.
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Radio-cooked Toast Never Tastes Burned, Even If Black
RADIO cooking is the latest stunt developed by broadcast engineers. If a hot lunch is wanted by the operators in a transmitting station, all they have to do is place their food between the electrodes of the transmitter. In a few moments it will be done to a turn. Bread may be toasted in six seconds, but steak and potatoes take several minutes. Oddly enough, food overdone by cooking on the radio transmitter does not have a burned taste. Toast can be charred black without tasting in any way different from the kind a cook would be proud to serve. Engineers are not quite sure just why this is so, but believe it is because the cooking is done by the electric discharge and the electrodes get only slightly warm.