If these walls could talk: The original smart home

Editor’s Note: Take a look back at the Dallas Morning News Archives.

It was a house that spoke to those who roamed its rooms.

In the winter of 1938, George Lingwiler, president of Dallas Homes, Inc. and developer of Wilshire Borough, coordinated the display of a fully furnished home in the Wilshire Heights borough of east Dallas.

New for its time, the Dallas All-Gas Talking Home represented a technological innovation and sales tool in the residential real estate and housing sector, and although this form of home advertising was not gaining traction, a handful of realtors started using speaking houses in the Metroplex by around 1999 .

Groundbreaking

Photo with story published on November 6, 1938.(The Dallas Morning News)

On Sunday, November 13, 1938, the Dallas All-Gas Talking Home at 6115 McComas Blvd. debut.

The aim of the model house, which has already been marked out and built in ten other American cities, was to demonstrate building and finishing techniques to potential builders and house buyers.

It was also programmed to listen to the guests and answer 1,000 home buying questions about building materials and methods, financing and equipment. It was called an all-gas home because of its exclusive use of gas for cooking, cooling, and heating.

How the house spoke

Mysterious voices boomed from appliances scattered around the house, speaking from room to room using newfangled appliances such as a Servel Electrolux refrigerator, an Oxford universal gas range, a Ruud automatic gas water heater, and a Packard Dallas Motor Company car Guests. In this way, the house has also created an advertising space for the products of these selected companies, inviting visitors to familiarize themselves with the devices on display.

The exact mechanisms behind the speaking ability of this speaking house are still unclear. It can be carried out via an intercom, radio transmitter, looped recordings or loudspeakers stowed in the household appliances. Through its chatty equipment, the house would “explain to prospective builders the proper construction, use of good building materials, and funding on simple terms through Federal Housing Administration loans.”

Advert published on November 20, 1938.Advert published on November 20, 1938.(The Dallas Morning News)

24 building materials and equipment companies worked together to build the house and decorate it inside out. Lingwilers Dallas Homes, Inc. and the Dallas Gas Company ran the home’s sponsorship group, and the home was fully furnished by many local companies. The home’s modern loft fan cooling systems were provided by the Dallas Engineering Company; Floor ovens and a cabinet gas heater from Brice Gaston Heaton Company; United Glass and Mirror Works mirrors, dome, and cabinets; Romany tiles in the bathroom and kitchen from the tile company Biegert; Sanitary Standard Sanitary Manufacturing Company of Dallas; Sheetrock from the National Gypsum Company of Dallas; electrical equipment from Meletio Electric Company; Lumber from Lyon-Gray Lumber Co .; and interior and exterior paints from Sherwin-Williams.

Other companies that helped build the house were Schrock Electric Co .; Cox Fence Co .; Sherwin-Williams Paint Co .; Acme Screen Co .; Hart Furniture Co .; the Stone Termite Co; Baker Brothers Nurseries; the Mid-South Talking Homes Co.

Headline published November 18, 1938.Headline published November 18, 1938.(The Dallas Morning News)

Due to the influx of visitors, the home exhibition stayed open three days longer to accommodate several thousand high school students in Dallas. DISD Superintendent Dr. NR Crozier “recommended Talking Home to the interior design, home planning and housekeeping classes.”

The house remains intact on McComas Blvd. to this day.

Other talking houses

Advert published on September 3, 1951.Advert published on September 3, 1951.(The Dallas Morning News)

While talking house innovation did not penetrate the real estate and housing market, several other talking houses appeared in the news classifieds over the years: one in Arlington in 1956 and two in Dallas in 1951 and 1957, respectively.

Advert published on February 4, 1956.Advert published on February 4, 1956.(The Dallas Morning News)Advert published on January 20, 1957.Advert published on January 20, 1957.(The Dallas Morning News)

In the 1990s and 2000s, some real estate agents tried to gain an edge over their competition by letting their homes speak for themselves over the radio. An AM radio station would broadcast detailed information about a home to the buyer’s car radio. While potential buyers were unable to physically tour the interior of the home, they were given a narrated tour of the home in their cars in the driveway.

Headline published on February 20, 1998.Headline published on February 20, 1998.(The Dallas Morning News)

Talking home radios were eventually replaced in the late 2000s with 1-800 numbers that potential buyers could call to hear an automatic voice recording of what the home was doing.

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