Media, Pennsylvania, USA

We recently received an email from Brain C. (thanks Brian) which read:

«I went over to the property where the Media, PA Futuro was located. I regret to inform you that the house has been completely destroyed. The owners of the property told me that someone had set it on fire and only two panels were left from when they cut it up for disposal. Sad that such an interesting structure is now gone.»

So, sad as it is to have to do so, we are changing the status of this Futuro to destroyed and remov

Not long after the last update to this page nearly two years ago we heard that the move to Joshua Tree had run into problems and had not taken place as planned but we did not come back to this page and update it to reflect that Media was still the current location of this unit; we were reminded of this fact in some comments on one of our Instagram posts (thanks folks) recently and so we are finally updating this page. What is that old saying? Better late than never!

This Futuro has now been purchased and will be relocated to Joshua Tree, California. Any further updates relating to either the current status or the history of this Futuro will be found on the Joshua Tree page. There will be no further updates to this page.

This Futuro has been deteriorating for years and the photos below, posted to Instagram by (the rather awesomely named) rainbowpoopingunicorns on 100818, show just how bad it has gotten.

That said, there may be hope, in the Instagram post rainbowpoopingunicorns noted that «supposedly they’ve sold it to someone in California and it’s being shipped there soon». Let’s hope that is so and that the new owner has plans to give this neglected Futuro lots of TLC.

This past week Christian Busch sent us an email (thanks Christian) in which he let us know that the land on which this Futuro sits is on the market (for a cool $9,950,000).

We have no idea if the Futuro is included as part of the land package, is available for sale separately (though of course based on previous information the Futuro was sold back in 2012 but never moved off property so likely the landowner does not actually own the Futuro) or has simply not even been thought of given its dilap

A recent installment of the Vlog «Mobile Instinct» included some great footage of this Futuro though frankly it is also rather sad as it once again clearly illustrates the dire condition of this unit.

This video, posted to Youtube 042317 by Nkrantz04 includes some stills and a little video footage of this Futuro.

On 101575 The Philadelphia Daily News carried an article under the headline «She Proves Dream Was No Mis-Steak» The article’s primary focus is not on Futuro and it starts out this way:

«This is a story about how a woman started her own company, battled sexism, built a restaurant and still is not president of the corporation.»

That said the story does include, in passing, a little information about this Futuro during the time it served as The Roundhouse, a restaurant owned by Joan and Matthew L

Justin Weeze sent us these photos of this Futuro shot during a visit on 092015; thanks Justin. The unit remains on site and its condition appears to continue to deteriorate. Each time a new set of photos surfaces the condition seems to be slightly worse.

The longer the unit remains here in this state the less likely it seems that someone will purchase and restore it; certainly as time goes on it is likely that the scope of work (and therefore the cost) necessary for a restoration will increase.

Sadly it seems the condition of this Futuro continues to deteriorate. Lisa Blohm snapped these shots 010115; thanks for sharing them Lisa. The unit appears to be partially disassembled and in one shot we see sections that look very «white» that were presumably cleaned at some point (or the light for that shot was deceptive). Back in 2012 and 2013 Paul had told us that the unit had been disassembled for transport off site (which obviously never took place) but these photos confirm that the disass

Recent email correspondence with Christian Busch confirms that this Futuro was indeed the one seen in the 35mm slide located in Llanerch in the early 1970’s. Christian was not only able to confirm this but was also able to provide the exact location of the Futuro in Llanerch (2710 Township Line Road, Drexel Hill, PA | 39°57’54.51″N 75°18’5.04″W).

Christian tells us that that he:

«lived in Media/Lima, outside of Philadelphia, PA, nearly my entire life so I remember this Futuro very well! My Fat

We came across this 35mm slide a week or so ago on E-Bay. The slide shows a Futuro House serving as a «hamburger stand» in Llanerch, PA in 1973. Llanerch is actually crossed out on the slide notations but we are told that the location is correct (though the meaning of the edited notation is unknown). The slide comes from a local college collection that is being digitized. A larger version of the photo can be seen below.

On the website futurohouse.net the previous owner of this Futuro tells us t

aka Skycat Ranger emailed us the other day and told us about a photo (below) he had taken of Media on 053014. The photo clearly shows the condition of the Futuro is continuing to deteriorate; if you look to the left rear of the unit you can see that the unit appears to be seriously damaged and in response to a comment on the photo aka Skycat Ranger tells us:

«… this was it’s good side. Other side is caved in.»

Our thanks to aka Skycat Ranger for the photo and the update.

It seems that the Futuro is still on site and yet to be moved. Our thanks to Cinnamon McCloskey who contacted us and confirmed that as of 111513 the Futuro was still on site in Media. Cinnamon describes the Futuro as:

«Completely gutted, missing the stairs and in generally horrible condition.»

Cinnamon also sent us the four photos displayed below which sadly show that the condition of the Futuro continues to deteriorate.

In recent email correspondence with Paul we learned that the Media Futuro did not get shipped out before the winter set in and that it is currently still on the site in Media.

Apparently shipping a Futuro is not always that easy to get set up; Paul tells us one shipper who had initially seemed interested in taking on the work subsequently procrastinated and stalled and in the end never did anything while another expressed interest but then said he did not want to take on any «special projects».

In an email today Paul confirmed that there had been some delays with the shipping of the dismantled Futuro and that at this time it is still on site at the Media location.

Paul, one of the team on site in Media prepping the Futuro for transport, tells us that they have gutted the floor braces and just started splitting the Futuro into sections. They expect to transport the Futuro in a few weeks. Paul sent us the photos below of the Futuro as it was just before they started work on it. Paul also confirmed that as far as they have been able to determine the Futuro has been on the current site for 34 years (since 1978). Thanks for the update and the photos Paul.

Looks like this Futuro has been found, purchased and will be heading off to a new home and a restoration project in Tampa, Florida. Geoff Hacker is an automotive historian and is researching the history of vintage fiberglass cars. On his travels he came across the Futuro and on his website Forgotten Fiberglass he talks about gathering a team together to disassemble the Futuro ready for transport to Tampa where it will be restored.

While it’s not strictly a car and Geoff is clearly branching out

The owner of this Futuro House has a website on which he offers it for sale; the website does not appear to be dated though there are images on the site with a date of 010111 which clearly suggests the Futuro was for sale on that date. We have to assume that had the owner sold it he would have taken down the website so, as of the date of writing, 070712, we have to believe the Futuro is still on site and still for sale.

We did not previously know exactly where this Futuro House was located but