While many New Jerseyans were digging out from winter storms, many in Willingboro dug in to the history of the township’s storied Futuro House—a rare existing example of the “UFO-style” manufactured home designed in the 1960s by Finnish architect Matti Suuronen.

As part of its ongoing work to explore, preserve and restore the Futuro House, Willingboro Community Development Corporation hosted an exhibit at the Willingboro Public Library, showcasing for the public a timeline of the house, information on its design, and related ephemera.

Intended to be small, efficient, and easily portable lodgings, approximately 100 Futuros were manufactured. Of those, only a small number remain intact, and Willingboro’s is believed to be the only remaining example in New Jersey and in the greater Philadelphia area.

“They are so rare, and they are so cool,” said Eric Wolff, a Space Age design expert who gave a public lecture at the exhibit’s closing ceremony.

The WCDC’s work to explore the history of the Futuro reaches back several years, having gotten an early boost from participating in NJCH’s Community History Program. Subsequent work to document residents’ memories and opinions about the future of the house has been funded through NJCH grants.

Originally brought to Willingboro as a “Space Bank” City Federal Bank around 1970, the bank donated the Futuro to Willingboro Township, which moved it to Mill Creek Park around 1975. Over the years, it was used as an office for park guards, the recreation department, and the Police Athletic League.

Little-used in recent years, it has deteriorated and fallen into disrepair. In 2020, it was listed as one of Preservation New Jersey’s “Most Endangered Historic Places.”

The WCDC is hopeful about the future of the Futuro, aiming to find support for refurbishing this piece of local history.

It’s reflective of the hopeful ethos that informed the Space Age design movement, Wolff said.

“People had optimism, which I think is sometimes lacking these days,” he said.