The Home Electrical - 1915 (Reprint 1980)

About fifty years ago, I was working for the mother of a friend, who sold built-in vacuum systems, modern versions of the one shown here at 1:59. We were called to a pre-earthquake home in the Oakland hills that had a problem with their built-in vacuum, which was probably installed around the time of this film in 1915 or thereabouts. My boss wanted to sell the old lady a new system, but I was able to repair the old one, and secretly advised the customer to stick with it, because it was better built than the new ones.

My favorite part is the hot soldering iron dangling at eye level.

honey, you have to remember to turn off the electric iron! our electric bill was damn near 4¢ this month!

The bathroom was a freaking death trap !

I like how he picks up the window shopper down town, drives him out to the residential area where he lives, shows him around the house, takes him to the door, and says goodbye.

This is wild, we are actually looking at people and a home from over 100 years ago.

The House of Preventable Accidents

The fact they have a maid to vacuum, iron, serve dinner and tend to a sick child really says a lot about the class of people that could even afford these things.

excuse me as i rinse my live GE electric shaving cup directly in the sink

The electric cigar-lighter looks like a candlestick telephone. “Hey Bob! How‘d you burn your lips?” “The phone rang and I answered the cigar-lighter.”

The poor guy is driven to his friend's house and then has to make his own way back

Love that dress she is wearing! The fashions from 1910-1920 are one of my favorites.

I was shocked that they had a central vacuum back in those days

This is so wild, seeing a fully electric (probably concept) house in a film from a time period when my grandparents were but little children! I can't imagine my impoverished grandparents would've been raised in this manner but definitely see this level of technological advancement becoming affordable to my grandparents' economic level when they were teenagers and young adults in the 1920s. And thinking forward, it's wild that even by the time my parents were born in the 1940s all this would have been considered outdated and an old-fashioned way of living.

I dunno. You pick up a guy at the appliance store & all you get is a cigar and a quick fiddle with his gadgets...

A hundred years ago, electricity must have seemed miraculous! Thanks for posting!

What a fascinating glimpse into the state-of-art technology of the past! My late grandfather was born in 1915 in Benton Harbor, MI. I doubt his family had any of these conveniences, save for perhaps a few electric lights. However, when he built his own house in the early '50s, he made sure my grandma had all electric appliances. (She believed gas appliances were dangerous and difficult to clean.) All the outlets, the baseboard heaters, the range, and even the toaster were still fully functional when he passed in 2005. They don't make 'em like that anymore!

Notice that this house doesn't have electrical outlet plugs at the bottom of the walls yet. They have to get power for these devices by screwing a threaded base into a light-bulb socket. And the exposed belts and moving parts of the washing machine and the main electric motor in the basement are of great danger if clothing - or a hand - got caught in them.

Just the fact that nobody died during this recording was a feat for General Electric back in 1915

This was 105 years ago. Things changed so much in the past 105 years, I can only imagine how much they will change in the next 105 years.