Westinghouse All-Electric Home Starring the L-1000 and D-1000!

[circlew]

Very interesting! Assume it's from '59, going by the appliances. The home is obviously for people with PLENTY of MONEY.

The actors look vaguely familiar, especially the lady in the black and white blouse. Seems like I remember her from some TV show.

 

[norgeway]

Isnt it sad....

NOTHING today is exciting....only CHEAP and FLIMSY....Then you knew it would be good...it was made in the USA and was quality!...How far backward we have gone.

 

[arbilab]

I remember the 'medallion' gimmick. Entire subdivisions without natgas hookups and they called it 'a feature'. You actually got a 'medallion' attached by the doorbell 'to impress your friends' how much money you could afford to waste on water and forced-air heat. Even at a nickel a kilowatt those two could bankrupt Donald Trump. ('Course he's managed to bankrupt himself more than once.)

A nickel also bought a soda or a BIG 3 Musketeers. But almost nobody went through 500 3 Musketeers a month. .05 x 500kWh (avg medium household WITH gas) = $25. And $25 in 1959 = $235 today. Dumping the entire heat load onto all electric roughly doubled that to $470. While the average $15 gas bill back then is "only" $122 today.

I remember 'medallion' subdivisions being entry-level middle class. Definitely not wealthy. Definitely not too (economically) bright either.

 

[norgeway]

The Gold Medallion Home

My Uncle, who is now 88, began work as an electrician when he got out of the service in 1947.."Part of the occupation force in Japan"..he went into business for himself in 1958 and my Cousin still operates their company,,He has told me a lot about the building boom of the 50s and 60s, and he wired many Gold Medallion Homes,The term Gold Medallion did not just mean all electric, the builder had to meet many requirements..insulation,etc,the wiring was all done to more heavy duty requirements...in my hometown, many homes were built with ceiling cable heat, my Uncle put up many miles of this..in fact today he has a lot of shoulder trouble because of all the work he did over his head..baseboard heat was also used, but ceiling cable heat was wonderful....no drafts and perfectly even heat that rarely ever gave any trouble..for all the requirements you got a lowered rate on your electric bill..the homes were some of the first with enough "Housepower" as they called it then,this meant the kitchen,laundry and lighting etc would be adequate for the future....if you find one of these houses, you can be assured it will be much heavier insulated etc than most older homes.

 

[DADoES]

Gold Medallion

 
House my parents built in 1964 had a Gold Medallion on the front doorbell escutcheon.

 

[appnut]

House across the street had that medallion.  It had a heat pump and electric water heater.  All electr5ic kitchen with Westinghouse built-ins.  It had gas piped to it because there was a gas light near the front curb (as every other house in the subdivision) as well as on the patio.  There was also gas log starter in the fire place and gas connection for dryer.