Frances Gabe


Frances Gabe was an American artist and inventor perhaps most well known for designing and building the Self-Cleaning House in Newberg, Oregon. She built her own model for $15,000 and it was estimated to go on the market in 1984 for about $50,000. She gained international notoriety in the 1980s for the self-cleaning house.

Life

Born in 1915 as Frances Grace Arnholtz on a ranch near Boise, Idaho, she was a self-proclaimed "unusual" person. She spent much of her time alone with her building contractor father, Frederick, and would accompany him on jobs. It wasn't until after her divorce from Herbert Grant Bateson that she changed her surname to Gabe. The actual self-cleaning house was granted a patent from the U.S. government, along with 25 additional patents for individual inventions unique to the house totaling to 68 patents. Her psychiatrist once remarked, "You're many times over a genius. The world belongs to you, and don't let anyone tell you anything different." She was once ridiculed for her invention but architects and builders now agree about it being "functional and attractive". The Self-Cleaning House fascinated Harvard University researchers and humorist Erma Bombeck who said she should be added to Mount Rushmore while Fred Amran, the professor of creativity at University of Minnesota, called her patent "incredibly complex, the longest I've ever read" and the Self-Cleaning House appeared on Ripley's Believe It or Not!. The house was also displayed in 2002 and 2003 at The Women's Museum in Dallas, Texas where it was a popular exhibit. She and the house were also featured in People magazine in 1982,She was also featured in The New York Times’ Home & Garden section in 2002, and the house was also featured in The Guardian and The New York Times, as well as on Phil Donahue’s talk show and in several books, including Chuck Palahniuk’s Fugitives & Refugees.
She died on December 26, 2016 at the age of 101.