GALLERY of IMAGES continued

section 2: dollhouses 1880s to 1920s

images & photography: Jennifer McKendry©

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1889

1892

c1890

American

stereocard by I.W. Ingersoll, St Paul, Minn. (no date)

The furniture is likely German

1896 Moritz Gottschalk catalogue

Open rooms on 21¼ in. base, attributed to the German factory of Moritz Gottschalk (1840 - 1905),  making dollhouses, furnishings and stables from about 1873 to about 1940, when World War Two interrupted toy manufacturing, which began again in 1947. Although this particular set of rooms does not appear in the surviving catalogues from 1892 to 1931, certain features resemble ones shown in the 1890s. (See References for books on Gottschalk by Ackerman and Cieslik.) Hand-painted blue lines decorate the cream-coloured front 3-dimensional pilasters, made up of mouldings, a base and capital (but in the 20th century, the shafts are flat with painted decoration suggesting a base or with applied fretwork retaining a 3-dimensional capital but no base). The main wooden base for the rooms has a simple angled profile at the front. The geometric "tiles" on the floor (covered in colourful lithographed paper), rich floral wallpaper with contrasting upper border,  curtains trimmed with lace edging and held back by pins with a metal head, simple wood mouldings fastening the curtains at the top (although some rooms have elaborate versions, as seen in the catalogue illustration above), and white window sills below glass panes divided by a cross painted directly on the glass all are found in various Gottschalk rooms in the catalogues. The passage door is white with lines painted to represent panels but on only one side, flat hinges show on one side, there are no doorway mouldings, except a single flat piece into which a pivoting wire can be turned to hold the door shut. The painted lines and construction of the door and doorway  are surprisingly crude in comparison to the sophistocated wall and floor papers.

Pilasters -- on the left, pre c1906 type; on the right above, post c1906 (from the 1909 catalogue)

                                         floor tiles and doorway

         wallpapers and curtains

German metal chandelier with original glass chimneys and shades c1900

Furniture shown in the two rooms is discussed in Gallery 5 (desk) and Galllery 6 (bed, chest of drawers, wash stand) links at bottom

1890s These were among the pieces of furniture, which originally furnished this particular set of rooms (when set up as a parlour and a bedroom); German; printed paper applied over natural wood with black painted borders on the cupboard and edging on the shelf below the mirror; above table top, 3 in. diameter with turned pedestal base in natural wood

1910

Moritz Gottschalk "red roof" dollhouse. The missing dormer window was restored based on the illustration from the 1910 catalogue (below), as were the glass windows and chimneys.

1910

The narrow kitchen accessed from a doorway in the recessed porch or from a swinging wall panel. The wall paper and paper "tiled" flooring are original.

There are three rooms: parlour, kitchen and bedroom. The first is accessed from a doorway off the porch and a swinging wall panel, the second also has a doorway onto the porch and a hinged wall panel and the third is accessed from a hinged window (restored).

Note the typical Gottschalk slab door with a painted panel and handsome knob, which pivots on a staple on the reverse of the door. The wallpaper with its upper band and flooring are original but the curtains are replacements.

left Detail of one of the corbels supporting the eaves; the corbels are a medieval revival aspect

right Stencilled window on the end wall ("illuminating" the parlour); lace edged curtains; real lace curtains were intalled in the actual windows

Original typical Gottschalk clasp and details of stencilled trellis. Original steps.

The recessed porch with a cut-out cardboard X; typical Gottschalk ornament in gold on the porch pillars

1928 Odell Bros., Home Builder's Catalog

1904 Hodgson's Low Cost American Homes

Style and form: the dollhouse is dominated by a gambrel roof, intersected at right angles at the front by another gambrel roof sheltering a wide dormer, also seen (above) in the 1928 house in an American catalogue and in a 1904 architectural pattern book, although in this case the dormer is on the house's side wall. The gambrel roof (the main slopes angle out about half-way down permitting more headroom in the upper floor) is one more example in the 19th century of medieval revival forms.This roof type is found on 17th and 18th century houses and shops in the USA (right drawing made in 1886, at the time this form was becoming once again fashionable) derived from British and European models.  In American terms, such early 20th century  houses were known as "Dutch Colonial". The German firm of Gottschalk was wise to incorporate a house form popular in the USA, where many of their products were sold. The gambrel roof form appears in 1905 in Gottschalk dollhouses ranging from one main floor with an attic to three floors with an attic and from simple houses to elaborate. These houses usually had gambrel-roof dormers, sometimes decorated with half-timbering. Trellises -- real or stencilled, flower boxes (each a simple rectangular length of solid wood punctured with holes to receive the stems of flowers), shutters and recessed porches reflected popular ideas about what cozy aspects made a house a home. The gambrel roof seems to have fallen out of favour at Gottschalk in 1929, when the clean lines of simple gable and modern flat roofs were particularly popular. Roofs changed in colour from deep blue to red about 1910, the date of this dollhouse.

note: for images of Gottschalk kitchen rooms, see Gallery 4

c1880

Canadian house from south-west Ontario, probably hand-made by skilled craftsman, glazing bars painted on glass, panelled doors, original wallpaper and curtains

1880s

Purity Tea Cannister, painted tin with glass windows, in the form of a house with a door that opens, James Crawford, grocer, Princess St, Kingston, Ontario, Canada; in business 1881 to 1920; marked on the back is, "This style & design of Package Registered by Baird & Peters of Ottawa."

(chimney replaced) 

1893

Carl P. Stirn catalogue, New York; dollhouse with lithographed front made by Moritz Gottschalk of Germany

1897

Schwarz catalogue, New York, likely made in Germany

1901

Lithographed cardboard rooms, which can be folded (each room is shown below); furnished with soft metal furniture, easels and mantelpieces; attributed to Peter F. Pia of New York

1903 Leeds Toy House: a lithographed, folding, cardboard house made by Grimm & Leeds of Camden, New Jersey, patented 22 Sept. 1903, four varities; ad in the Wanamaker catalogue, USA, of 1905

1905

page from the Catalogue of Holiday Goods offered by Wiemann & Muench, Milwaukee, Wisconsin -- details follow

Six dollhouses, some of which are by the American manufacturer Bliss, for example,

the cottage with the keyhole attic (#572 left)

the seaside house (#573 below left)

the two-storey cottage with verandah (#574 below right)

the rustic Adirondack Cottage complete with a roof handle    in the form of a member of the First Nations (#662 below,          attributed to Bliss).

None of these designs are shown in the 1911 Bliss catalogue. Bliss began making lithogrphed paper on wood houses in 1889.

1905

likely by Bliss, USA; ad in the Wanamaker catalogue

1905

dated stereocard, Kawin &Co.

1905 Youth's Companion , 5 November (detail below with colour added)

1906

detail below

Undated

Photograph (in a school?) from the USA; shows a simple home-made dollhouse with home-made furnishings

Undated

postcard, American [1910s]

1913

American cardboard house and garden (interior and exterior are shown below); windows and door are hinged; complete with range and chimney; originally sold with lithographed cardboard furnishings

1923

American

Illustration from the catalogue of the Schoenhut Company, Philadelphia

This line of houses was introduced in 1917. Made with a wood frame, the fibreboard is embossed to represent stone walls and a foundation with a tiled roof; made in a variety of sizes and number of storeys; side wall opens (see below); "inside of houses covered with lithographs to represent fancy wallpaper"; glazed with glass, the windows were hung with lace curtains

Beginning in 1927, the exterior walls were smooth, perhaps imitating stucco

Note: for a Schoenhut catalogue of toys c1920,  see the article on TOYS

Original lace curtains (the glue has discoloured over the years) and attractive wallpaper decorated near the ceiling with hanging baskets and garlands of roses; this model has 11 glass windows along with 4 fake ones printed on the back interior wall

In 1927, Schoenhut introduced "a line of very artistic high-class doll houses" including ones with gardens, trees, shrubbery, a garage and painted wooden automobile; each of the shuttered windows has 8 tiny lights in the upper sash over an undivided lower sash (the earlier houses have 2 undivided sash in each window); the door has a lattice-work window( the earlier houses have solid panelled doors); house sizes ranged downward to a simple one-room bungalow with the front roof extended to form a verandah

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