History & Updates
We have seen the odd photo of the interior of this Futuro over the years but we have never had as good a look as we do in this video footage sent to us recently by W. Barksdale Maynard. Seems like the interior of the unit is deteriorating over time as best we can tell from looking at what earlier photos we do have.
We recently added this Press Photo to our collection of «Things Futuro»
The somewhat eclectic but ever so awesome press photo shows this Futuro being delivered to the parking lot of the Village Mall in Willingboro Township, New Jersey on 121473.
This Futuro was one of, we believe, two that was used as «Space Banks» by City Federal Savings and Loan at various locations around New Jersey in the early 70’s. As we know this unit has a non typical window configuration with only 8 windows; this was
We love this photo that features this Futuro in the Futuro’s «natural habitat» — snow. The photo is by BoroTV and the original photo can be found on Instagram here.
Preservation New Jersey describes itself this way:
«Founded in 1978, Preservation New Jersey is a statewide member-supported non-profit historic preservation organization. PNJ promotes the economic vitality, sustainability, and heritage of New Jersey’s diverse communities through advocacy and education.»
and it lists among its various programs the following:
«publishes the annual 10 Most Endangered Historic Places in NJ list, which draws attention to remarkable sites and to their many challen
The 091576 issue of the Cherry Hill, NJ publication the Courier Post carried an article on this Futuro titled «It’s not an invasion, just a new office».
The article, which is accompanied by a single photograph, reported on the official «dedication» of the structure as Willingboro Township’s Parks Information Office. The structure had actually been moved (by flatbed truck) to Mill Creek Park in Willingboro many months prior in November 1975 but local authorities had not previously got around to
We have always loved black and white photography and this is a great example we came across the other day; the photo is by gary.ell and the original can be found on Instagram here.
The 110504 issue of the Cherry Hill, NJ publication the Courier Post carried an article on this Futuro.
The article appeared on pages 1B and 3B under the headline «Spaceship never took off» and is accompanied by two photos. The article tells us that (at the time) the Futuro was owned by the town and used as an office by the Police Athletic League.
The article adds a little history reporting (and thus confirming) that this Futuro was once a banking office located in the parking lot of the Acme
Update 122415
We need to correct ourselves; this is clearly not Willingboro as the Futuro in the photo has the standard number of windows and not the reduced number seen in the Willingboro Futuro. How observant we are! Now we have to figure out which Futuro this is.
Original Information 120915
This vintage 8″ by 10″ photo, added to our collection of «Things Futuro» this week, shows what is likely this Futuro being delivered by Sikorsky S-64 Skycrane to a mall in Woodbridge, New Jersey in 1972
These photos were shot 110814 by Alasdair King; the photos are high res and they include two photos of the interior of the Futuro. Our thanks to Alasdair for sending us these photos.
These two photos were taken 103014 by Pam Petrone and provide an updated look at this Futuro. Our thanks to Pam for sending us these photos.
The first of the two videos below was shot by Dan Reed on 071913 — thanks for letting us know about the video Dan. The video clearly shows that the condition of the unit is deteriorating. Dan’s video ends with the statement «Someone must save it.» We echo that sentiment and wish we were better placed personally so that we could do something about it ourselves but unfortunately we do not have the resources.
The second video is by «The Unknown Cameraman» — the footage appears to be a composite o
Dennis McDonald, Staff Photographer at the Burlington County Times kindly sent us this photograph of the Futuro being landed in the Village Mall parking lot in Willingboro on 121473. The photograph is reproduced here courtesy of the Burlington County Times. PC Rider photo blogs about his travels on AdventureRider.com. In a post dated 071711 PC Rider included the following photos of the Futuro which include a cool shot of the interior. Since there is snow on the ground the photos must have been t
Adding updated information about this Futuro yesterday prompted us to revisit the fact that this example has less windows than is typical. Rereading some documents and old emails led us to the likely answer; a simple and obvious one that had just not registered with us on previous occaisions. Anna-Maija Kuitunen in her final thesis for the Metropolia University of Applied Sciences in Finland «Futuro no. 001 : Documentation and evaluation of preservation need» (available online here) wrote:
«The
An interesting article by Dennis McDonald was posted on phillyBurbs.com July 19th 2012. Based on that article it is now evident that this Futuro was in fact the one that spent time in Lakewood, Ocean County AND that it also spent time in the parking lot of the Village Mall in Willingboro (arriving on that site 121473).
In his article McDonald writes that according to an article in the Burlington County Times the «Spacebank» was open for business within 30 minutes of landing in Willingboro with
This Futuro is interesting in that it is different from many others having fewer windows (though there are others that do look similar; Covington for example appears very similar). For a while we wondered if this was even a Futuro and not some very similar creation but based on all of the research we have done everything points to it being a Futuro (including it being the correct size) and so until we find something to the contrary a Futuro it is.
It appears that this example has moved several
Photo Gallery
