H.G. Wells’ predictions for the “house of the future,” made in 1903:

• Chimneys will be obsolete, replaced by an electric heater in the center of each apartment. The absence of chimneys will also permit roof gardens.
• Air will be circulated by an electric fan “and will come in through a proper shaft and filter” communicating with the roof.
• No longer required for ventilation, windows may take any shape and will be positioned for lighting and for aesthetic effect.
• Labor-saving appliances will include dustless sweepers, self-making beds, and “neatly-mounted electric cooking things.”
• Walls and floors will meet in a curve rather than at right angles, to prevent the accumulation of dust.
• Walls will be soundproof, doors will be framed in metal, artificial stone floors will be clad in linoleum, and all will be fireproof.
• “In the end our present houses may come to be thought singularly squat, massive, and dark beside these elegant new comers.”

He also thought that single-family homes would become rare in urban areas, replaced with “a wide forest of buildings in which many families may live,” sharing common restaurants, children’s playgrounds, and the like. “The scope for ingenuity and for invention in planning such places is enormous.”