All this week, I have been overcome by an all-new mania: Miniature madness. To guide the remodel and decorating of this vintage dollhouse that I bought at a Lenox estate sale about a month ago, I launched my research in earnest this week. And in a flash, I was absolutely sucked into a whole new, wild and wonderful world! Like, seriously, I could not eat or sleep or do barely anything but search and research about the furnishings that can go into vintage dollhouses. I’m having So Much Fun, and I want to plow forward — but I have three important questions for seriously experienced dollhouse people. Can you help me?
Here are my questions, and Photo Viewing Tip: Click on any photo and it should double in size on your screen… click on right or left of photos and they *should* run forward or back like a slide show (gets quirky, though)… escape of clock outside photo to get back to story:
1. What kind/pattern of vintage dollhouse do I have — or at least, what era is it from??
Of course, number #1 is: Does anyone recognize my dollhouse? I have done a fair amount of searching online and come up stymied. There were many plans out there for gramps or dad to make dollhouses. Perhaps it came from an A. Neely Hall Craft Pattern? … Does anyone recognize the designer/plan company?
UPDATE: I dug in online and *thought* I found it — an A. Neely Hall from 1937 — an early design, published in Science and Mechanics Magazine. It’s the Colonial Dollhouse — and the floor plan for the lower floor looks similar…. but not quite. In addition, my house is a Garrison Colonial (looking at the front of the house, the second story protrudes over the first story a bit.) Okay, so mine is not an A. Neely Hall Colonial — but, I really think mine is an A. Neely hall design. See the Cape Cod here — it is the same height, and the windows and doors seem to be in a similar scale to those in my house. Also fascinating: A 1905 book, The Boy Craftsman, by A. Neely Hall, digitized by the Gutenberg Project. Now I also need to research the seemingly prolific work of A. Neely Hall. Here’s betting that he and Royal Barry Wills were buddies!
It’s a pretty large dollhouse:
- 28.5″ wide by 18.5″ deep by 21″ tall (to the peak of the roofline, the chimney goes higher.)
- The roof is removable.
- The doors are all 6″ tall[doors themselves, trim not included]
- The downstairs ceilings are 8.5″.
- The windows are 4.25″ tall [glass surrounded by mullion-trim, but not exterior trim]
- The first riser is 1 inch tall, including the step.
- The rest of the risers are 1/3″ tall, including the landing step.
- The paint looks original, and pretty old.
- The “wallpapers” in the kitchen and bedroom are fabric, a small pattern calico. Looks pretty old to me.
- The “carpet” looks like wool cloth. Looks pretty old to me.
- All the moldings are pretty darn chunky.
Here are some more photos for reference:
What do you think? Any flashbulbs of recognition on plan- or pattern-designer? Or, era? And I will guess 1930s or 1940s — see more about my reasoning in #2. I will say: This dollhouse is beautifully constructed!
2. What scale is my dollhouse??
Second question: What scale is my dollhouse? I’ve read up on the subject a bit… the doors are all six inches tall, but, the house has a “big” feel. It also came with some furniture — including what I’ve learned is “Grand Rapids” style furniture — which looks pretty darned old — and which looks pretty darned good, scale-wise, in the dollhouse. The downstairs fireplace, which is glued to heck on the wall, also seems quite large (and looks great with the Grand Rapids dollhouse furniture sitting next to it.) On the other hand, the dollhouse also came with 1:12 pieces, including from Shackman. These look… dinky inside the dollhouse. All of this leads me to believe the dollhouse is not only from the 1930s or 1940s, but that it was built in a Grand Rapids size, more 1:10 than 1:12. What do you think, dollhouse experts????
Here are some photos for reference:
3. Is it a dollhouse decorating mortal sin for me to make changes to what appears to be an original finish vintage dollhouse?
I am, at heart, a preservationist. Of homes, for sure. But what’s the righteous approach with vintage dollhouses?
- Is it a dollhouse decorating mortal sin if I wallpaper the currently painted walls? Note: I plan to keep all the trim in the original paint.
- Is it okay for me to paper over the fabric walls?
- And the floors: Okay if I replace or cover over them (I’ll seek out vintage)?
- I have no desire to change the exterior paint — I love patina. But the interior: You know me, I am the world’s largest fan of vintage wallpaper and would love to add those design layers.
Why are dollhouses so much fun? I get to decorate an entire house! I can choose any style. Smaller is faster and cheaper (well, not always!) than bigger. This is so much fun!
All together now, these are my three questions about my already beloved vintage dollhouse:
- What kind of vintage dollhouse do I have — or at least, what era is it from??
- What scale is the dollhouse?
- Is it a dollhouse decorating mortal sin for me to make changes to what appears to be an original finish dollhouse?
- Okay and now I will also be greedy: What are your recommendations on the best websites and resources to learn more and engage with vintage dollhouses? THANK YOU!
René says
This isn’t going to answer any of your questions, but I just found plans for a Streamline dollhouse in a 1937 Popular Mechanics online: http://books.google.ca/books?id=-9oDAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA114&pg=PA114#v=onepage&q&f=false
And I think this is a dollhouse made from that pattern: http://rebeccascollections.blogspot.ca/2009/03/casa-manana-plans-sold-on-ebay.html
I am SERIOUSLY TEMPTED to try my hand at this house.
So excited to see more dollhouse shenanigans on Retro Renovation! Thank you, Pam and Kate.
Mary says
Oh – I am obsessed with that house! I love the ocean-liner style. Thanks for sharing. I wish I had an excuse to build one (or the time). Sigh…
I loved doll houses as a child and my father built me a victorian painted lady that started from a kit and then ended up being “customized” free-hand. My mom gave it to a little girl in our neighborhood, sadly, but it was beautiful.
TappanTrailerTami says
LOVE that dollhouse! In actuality, I’d love to build it as a real house with a view of the beach!!! *swoon*
Lynne says
I have to agree with the other posts. 1940’s or there abouts. I don’t think it came from a formal purchased plan, but from a loving daddy or Grandaddy. I don’t think scale was even considered during the building. He used what scrap and leftovers he had in his shop and eyeballed it. I do know that home work shops were VERY popular in the late 40’s and early 50’s. Nearly every old magazine makes a reference on setting one up in your basement.
I also agree that you should make the house the way YOU want it, but in a sympathetic manner. Keep the parts you love and change the rest with something appropriate. I wouldn’t get hung up on scale, because I don’t think you’ll really be able to. Just go with what “looks right”.
Back in the 80’s and early 90’s when I was in the dollhouse business, the scale was 1:12, and then steadily went smaller as folks were running out of space in their real houses for their projects. If I can manage it, I’ll send some pics of my old houses and room boxes.
I believe there is still one operating dollhouse shop in Frankenmuth, MI.
Lynne
Nadine says
I recognize the fabric in the bedroom. I work in theatre costuming and we have a dress made out of it! I would date the dress much later, from the wear it seems more like a 70’s era reproduction of a 30’s style housedress. But maybe the fabric on my dress is a reproduction of your original fabric.
DavidF says
Are you sure that wasn’t built from a kit? My wife and I built something similar for my Mom about ten years ago from a kit we got at Michael’s. That particular kit was a log house and had a simpler layout inside, but the door fittings and chimney look similar. That would make it even more special. But I agree with Jay that if it wasn’t a kit somebody built it from scratch.
pamela brucker says
Hi Pam, regarding the scale, this is from about home website I use for my collections:
• 1:16 Dolls House Scale – 3/4 Scale
1:16 dolls house scale , sometimes called 3/4 scale, was a common scale for play dolls houses from the 1930’s to 1950’s and has now been revived by the Brinca Dada toy company for their new range of modern dolls house toys. One inch in this scale equals 16 inches on a real item, or 3/4 inch equals 1 foot. An adult male doll in this scale will be roughly 4 1/2 inches (11.5 cm) tall, while a doorway will be 5 3/4 inches to 6 1/2 inches (14.5 – 16.5 cm) high. Collectible houses and furniture in this scale include pieces from Tri-ang (a British Manufacturer), Marx (Little Hostess, Amanda Ann) and Petite Princess (by Ideal, marketed in the US.) More »
It seems that you have a 1:18 scale but also it looks custom made. I totally agree that it looks to be from the 40s. Good luck, you might want to look on ebay to see if you find any furniture that looks like yours and what make it is. I use this method a lot to check my stuff. Great house.
pam kueber says
Hi pamela, I considered this….
For reference, I just measured and the front door of my real house and it is 6’8 inches tall.
My dollhouse at 1:16 scale [actual inch measurement divided by .75] would be: front door, 8′ tall…. interior ceilings, 11.5′ high… the windows, 5.6′ high… the kitchen, 15′ wide and 22′ long… each of the two keeping rooms, 21′ wide by 23′ deep … those seem like ginormous dimensions to me. At this scale, the house would have been very grand. But perhaps you are right — it could have been, that was the plan: A grand house with LOTS of stuff inside, because at 1:16, it would take a lot of furniture. Note: first step up the staircase would be 1.3′ high (but maybe it is taller in the design to make way for flooring?) — the rest of the risers would be 1′ tall… Note: I just measured, and the risers on my basement stairs are only 7.5″ tall…
On the other hand, at 1:10 scale [actual inch measurement divided by 10], front door would be 6′ tall… ceilings would be 11.5′ high… windows 4.25′ tall… kitchen would be 11.5 wide by 16′ deep… keeping rooms, 16′ x 17’… risers, 10″ tall.
A sort of Grand Rapids scale [actual inch measurement divided by .91] — which I made up to be 1:11… would get closer to modern sizes: The door would calculate to 6.6’high…. ceilings, 9.3′ high… windows, 4.7′ high… risers, .824′ tall.
I am thinking…. the staircase risers hold the secret….
I think I am doing these calculations correctly, although I did have a big margarita last night…
Ugh. I need an expert to identify this house and give me guidance on original intended scale!
Jay says
The first time I saw it I thought 1940s built by an experienced carpenter/home builder ( think Tom Silva, TOH) who made it for his daughter or grands). Shame you weren’t able to learn more about its history at the sale where you purchased it. I’ll leave it to the experts but I don’t think you have a priceless antique so have fun and go at it with the decorating. Appears to already have had some updated wall finishes and carpets. I doubt these rooms would have had wall to wall originally, more likely painted floors with patterned or braided area rugs. I bet you like the 60s orange carpet upstairs. I think this project is safe for you, no danger of falling off of anything (unless you anger the dollhouse spirits still lingering within).
Mary Elizabeth says
A haunted doll house? Now, that would make an interesting story.
Mr Kim says
It has been written indeed. British author M R James wrote «The Haunted Dolls’ House». A classic piece of gothic/Victorian ghost story. Short but chilly 🙂
Michelle says
I can’t help with any of your questions but, as an aside, those of you who are into miniatures might enjoy Margaret Grace’s “…in Miniature” cozy mystery series. The main character creates doll houses and the books include lots of background knowledge. Added bonus: The series is set in California and the main character lives in an Eichler home and includes details about that as well.
Michelle from Brown Deer
P.S. I’m not Margaret Grace, just a fan of this blog and cozies.
Mary Ann says
It’s a beauty! It does look like it could be homemade and not from a kit, and it does evoke the 1940s to me as well from a stylistic standpoint. My grandfather made me a center hall colonial dollhouse in 1977 that I decorated with an electic mix of dollhouse furniture – Scandavian modern furniture with mid-century colonial reproduction. Some of the smaller pieces that you have are the same pieces that I bought in the 1970s (like the chest of drawers). I keep my dollhouse next to my desk in my home office!
Mr Kim says
Good morning everyone,
It’s funny that you should ask the third question; when it has already been answered by… you? See, it’s a doll house. But what is it? It’s a piece of furniture and a house… I recall reading here about keeping vs. renovating the original colour of furniture. And I recall reading also about keeping the original paint/paper/tiling in houses.
Of course, it’s lovely to have people here expressing and exchanging their opinions. But you can get extra help going back to what was said in the entries about painting old furniture and renovating walls 🙂
Now, my personal opinion: if you use methods which ensure that the house can be later restored to its original condition, you have no problem left, only your imagination and countless hours of fun (and a bunch of friends/relatives believing you’ve gone over the bend, but that’s part of the fun, right?) 😉
Mary Elizabeth says
Good morning, Pam! Up with (or before) the birds again, I see.
I spent a lot of time building and fixing up new and old dollhouses, so even though I’m no expert, I do have some theories. Can’t wait until the true experts comment so I can test them.
Here is a magazine featuring an article about making slipcovers for the style of furniture (in real life and real scale). It’s from the early 1940s.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-House-and-Garden-May-1943-Grand-Rapids-Slipcoves-Country-Houses-/331259644654?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4d209d0aee
I remember this kind of furniture in relatives’ houses in the early 50s, and by then it was getting old. I also remember them recovering the furniture in the late 1950s. So the style of the furniture is just before, during, or after World War II. The style of the kitchen, including the farmhouse table and fridge, seem to be from the 1940s, too.
Looking at the detail on the dollhouse–including the front door hinges, I notice that many things that now we would buy in metal to build a dollhouse are hand carved in wood. This again makes me think WWII(when metal for non-essentials was not available). It also makes me think the reason you can’t find a pattern or manufacturer might be that somebody’s grandpa designed and made it, perhaps after his own or his grandchild’s house. It seems to be in the colonial revival style that spans most of the 20th century.
I think the whole place has a 1940s vibe. Maybe someone who has experience in vintage fabrics can help you identify the age of the fabric wallpaper. Again, before the 1950s, somebody’s leftover fabric would more likely be used in the dollhouse than wallpapers made especially for dollhouses.
Have you searched the whole house looking for a signature or anything like that?
As for redecorating, keep in mine that doll houses are often passed down and that one may have been redecorated once or more than once already. So it’s hard to say what is original. I’ll bet the 1:12 scale furniture comes from a later period than the 1:10. You might want to pack away all the stuff that isn’t to Grand Rapids scale and stick to what is. At any rate, I think any redecorating that is done should be in the 1940s style.
As for what you can take off, I think you bought this house so you could redecorate it, not so that you could resell it as an antique, right? Just sayin’.
pam kueber says
Hi Mary Elizabeth, I was most definitely thinking of slipcovering the sofa and side chair — I’m very wary of ripping off that original upholstery. First, I think I will research ways to possibly clean the current upholstery — it is glued on. In general, it’s in pretty good shape. If that seems too risky… or if the dirt does not lift… yes, I’ll probably slipcover. On that note, I made slipcovers for my Baker loveseats once. What a gawdawful chore that was. Never again.
Marta says
You might try Capture carpet cleaner on the upholstery. It’s a powder you brush into the upholster/carpet, let sit a while, then vacuum off. I’ve had great luck with it on some horrid stains, and it has no potential to harm.
pam kueber says
Thanks for the tip!