History & Updates
We recently received an email from Shane Rank regarding a photo of an orange Futuro that had been our list of «unknown locations» for quite some time. Shane was able to identify the photo as being a very early photo of this Futuro. He also provided some historical detail which adds a little to the story and also aligns perfectly with what we already knew. The photo can be seen below.
Rather than rewrite Shane’s story we figured why not leave that to Shane. He wrote:
«In regards to the photo of
While we are not able to share any details at this time we are delighted to be able to report that we have heard from the owner of this Futuro, Andrew, who tells us he is about to embark on the process of restoration and relocation.
It is always great to hear about another Futuro getting the TLC it so richly deserves. We anticipate being able to share some more details along with photos in the future but for now we wanted to share the fact that the unit is about to be restored.
We came across an interesting post recently (though it actually dates from back in March 2020) on the blog Yallambie titled «A Little Bit Of Gravitas». The post covered several topics among which was a section which provided a little historical information on this Futuro along with the photo below (originally from JazzGav Burge on Facebook).
With the exception of the very grainy newspaper photo found in the 070817 update on this page this is the first photo we have come across of the Futuro at
Between November 2017 and March 2018 Peter S travelled thousands of miles and visited this Futuro as well as those in Canberra, Cheltenham, Deep Creek and High Wycombe. He visited this Futuro on 022118, about three months before it was disassembled and placed into storage. The photos below show the condition of the Futuro at that time; Thanks for sharing Peter.
The Heritage Victoria decision in respect of this Futuro’s nomination for inclusion in the Victorian Heritage Register appears in this document under the heading «Recommendation of the Executive Director and assessment of cultural heritage significance under Part 3 of the Heritage Act 2017».
The decision did not go in favor of the Futuro and, as it seems to us is the case with anything «government» or «legal», the authors seem to have gone out of there way to make the reasoning as hard to deter
This Futuro has now been dismantled and moved to a new (unknown — to us at least) location. Hot on the heels of the news that there were efforts underway to have the Futuro listed on the Victorian Heritage Register to ensure it was protected as something of cultural heritage significance (see the 033118 update) the City of Whittlesea posted the photo below on Instagram recently which shows the Futuro partially disassembled.
A comment attached to the post reads in part:
«We’ve been working with
It is always great to see a Futuro getting a little «tlc» or, in this case, protection as so many have deteriorated over the years. In a 022618 article the Herald Sun reported that this Futuro had been accepted as a nominee for the Victorian Heritage Register. That nomination is currently under consideration by Heritage Victoria.
The article also suggests that a re-location is likely in the Futuro’s future noting that:
«Whittlesea Council issued a permit for the subdivision of the site in June
An article published online 070117 by the Melbourne based Herald Sun suggests that this Futuro may be taking a trip to a new location in the future. The article reports that:
«… Whittlesea Council will work with the owners of the spaceship-like fiberglass structure, Canopi Homes, to ensure the protection, restoration and appropriate relocation of the Futuro to a place with a public presence.»
A council representative indicated the council would work with the owners to identify suitable sites
The photo below was taken 093016 and posted to Instagram by annasatin. Looks like at least for now another Futuro is being «left to die»; she certainly appears to be deteriorating as time goes on.
The three photos below, some of the best we have seen of this Futuro, were posted to Facebook by Terry Smith.
It seems that this Futuro, while still on site, may have been sold. We received an email this week from Phil who has been trying to find a Futuro to purchase. Phil tells us that when he made inquiries about this Futuro he was advised by the current owners that it had in fact been sold.
Though the unit is still on site and the full amount of the purchase has not yet been paid apparently a deposit is being held and the transaction is expected to be completed. The owners would not indicate the sal
We received an email from Ben Bowering this morning. Ben lives in the Melbourne area now but has lived much of his life in Adelaide. He told us he had just been watching a program on ABC television which had featured a short segment on the Futuro House which had brought back a childhood memory of seeing the Deep Creek Futuro way back in the early 70’s when it was located on Melbourne Street in North Adelaide. Interestingly Ben recalls his father thinking it was something of an eyesore which seem
This Futuro was relocated from 299 Plenty Valley Road, Greensborough north of Melbourne, Australia where it served as a sales office for a local realtor to its current location over 20 years ago. It is currently used as a storage building by the Go-Kart Track at the Grand Prix Training Center in the South Morang suburb of Melbourne.
The Futuro was featured on the cover of the Autumn 2010 issue of Architect Victoria Magazine (Dead — see pdf here) with a short article appearing inside the magazin
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