11/4/09

Popular Mechanics - Modern Doghouse

I'm not a dog person, but if I did have one, I'd definitely build him/her a doghouse like this.
This is a two page spread from Popular Mechanics magazine in February, 1940. I scanned each page separately so they'd fit in the column better.

Look how cool the doghouse is! I can't believe this is from 1940. Hell, I wish MY house looked that modern. Honestly, early American gingerbread house designs should have been left in the 1800's where they were born. Same goes for doghouse designs. This was designed in the era of "exciting new streamline" thinking, which looks anachronistic on one hand, but fundamentally appeals to the minimalist in me. Simple, clean lines without clutter.
Streamlining and Early American are both "retro" design philosophies when you think about it. It's just that one is sixty years old and the other is over two hundred years old. Given the choice of one over another, I'll always go with "less is more".

Would the dog appreciate it? Of course not. In fact, dogs being dogs, he'd probably chew the corners off of it. At least dogs generally don't dump where they sleep. They dump in the living room!

1 comments:

Boo Long said...

In Britain the doghouse only means one thing... Trouble with the Mrs!
We universally call dogs' accommodation a 'kennel' or 'dog kennel' here, yet use the Americanese for the phrase "in the doghouse".

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