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section 4: cooking & eating: kitchens & dining-rooms 1880s to 1920s images & photography: Jennifer McKendry © home page GALLERY of IMAGES 1 GALLERY OF IMAGES 2 GALLERY OF IMAGES 3 GALLERY OF IMAGES 5 GALLERY OF IMAGES 6 INDEX to GALLERY History of Dollhouses article cooking: THE KITCHEN
1894 the American firm McLoughlin produced a set of 4 rooms with lithographed walls showing the furnishings and decor enjoyed by the urban upper classes; even the kitchen -- the realm of the cook and maids -- was handsomely appointed, including an attractive tiled floor, striped wainscoting topped by a shelf supported on iron brackets and fronted by latticework; German furnishings c1890-c1920
1894 the iron range, probably heated with coal and set into an exposed brick chimney, has a warming shelf with covered china serving pieces waiting to be taken into the dining room; there is a large copper kettle and a metal double-boiler on the range cooking surface; a boiler in the range provides hot water to the vertical copper reservoir, raised on an iron pedestal and feeding the sink by an exposed pipe; the faucets are affixed to the wainscoting above the sink; cold water, stored in a tank in the attic, descends by gravity down pipes; a hand-pump, perhaps in the cellar, may exist to force water through pipes to the upper floor bathrooms; by this time, independently heated hot-water tanks also existed, usually fired by gas
1894 there is a glazed
hanging cupboard with a clock over the ice box, which has a pipe to drain off excess water
from melting ice in the zinc-lined receptacle (more common at this time were vertical
free-standing wooden iceboxes lined with zinc -- examples are shown further below);
a tall wood kitchen cupb
1878 typical, upper middle-class American houses with a parlour joined by a double archway to the dining room; a short passage (hallway) leads from the dining room to the kitchen (direct access between kitchen and dining room was usually avoided -- separating the spheres of servants and the family); the kitchen has a sink and built-in range; there are two pantries (usually not incorporated into dollhouses) -- one off the dining room and the other off the kitchen, which has a back or service door near an outdoors cistern; Bicknell's Village Builder
old glass and earthenware crocks, bottles and dishes on a "red-stained" drop-leaf, gate-leg German table c1910 guarded by a mother dog and her pups; when not in use, most of these dishes would be stored in an adjacent pantry; portable tables with leaves were particularly useful depending upon how much activity was taking place in the kitchen; red wood bucket c1940s
c1900 two small ice boxes made from painted soft metal in a panel design; lid lifts to reveal two compartments for ice, thick ("insulated") door opens for food storage area, which is lined with zinc and has a open-weave metal shelf; just under 2½" high, German
1911 Maple Sisters paper dolls and furnishings showing an iron kitchen range, coal scuttle (upper right corner), iron kettle and cooking pot, wood wall shelf holding cereal boxes and hooks for hanging pots and a griddle, kitchen cupboard with glazed doors exposing a set of china dishes, cooking accessories are hung on its side and on the wainscoting
In the meanwhile, many houses -- wel
1930, Montgomery Ward catalogue
1905 the fussy detailing of the Eagle woodstove in the 1930 ad (above) echoes that of the Acme model from 25 years earlier and resembles even earlier stoves; models shown here include Royal and Acme; many are too large for dollhouses; Wiemann & Muench catalogue, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
1905 note the pots, frying pans, coal scuttles and long griddles, as well as the lifters for moving the burner plates on the cooking surface; models include Ark, Rival, Venus, Novelty; Wiemann & Muench catalogue, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
1903 kettle, pots and frying pan for toy stoves, Montgomery Ward catalogue
left long iron griddle, as seen in ads of 1905 (above), just over 4" long
1872 toy sad irons, cast in iron by Stevens & Brown in Cromwell, Conn., USA; the top iron (on the right), belonging to the stand (3¾" long) in the middle, likely is also from their factory, although not shown in the catalogue; the duck iron is 3¼" long
1890 kitchen stove and cooking accessories, Youth's Companion, October
blue and black German tin stove, 7" high green and black German tin stove with lion's paw feet and 2 permanently placed stew pots, 6½" high
1914 small tin stove with cooking pots and pans illustrated in Montgomery Ward catalogue; the stove itself imitates tiled walls, indicative of its German origins
Tin Kitchen Sets
left 1893 Carl Stirn catalogue, New York; a dust pan is typically included in such a set
below 1905 Wiemann & Muench catalogue, Milwaukee, Wisconsin; coffee mill, coffee pot, kettle, etc.
1914 Montgomery Ward catalogue; note the ABC plate above tin washerboiler, 3" x 4" x 5½"
Tin Kitchens
above right 1874 Althof, Bergmann & Co., New York, catalogue; stove with oven, hood and arched opening next to floor (to store fuel); the pump has a plunger instead of the usual handle; this company made and imported toys
1872 Stevens & Brown catalogue, manufacturing company in Cromwell, Conn., USA; tin chimney and stove with two-tiered ovens in centre; pump on exterior side-wall with downward-angled pipe leading to a basin attached to the interior side-wall; accessories include plates, serving spoons, grater, coal scuttle, coffee mill, pail, ladle, pots, kettle, dust pan, funnel, scrub board, pair of wall candle-holders; eight sizes were available from 6" x 4½" to 19" x 12"
c1870s or '80s Tin kitchen painted with bright yellow on the walls, red on the stove, chimney and hood, green on the water pump and basin, and with an imitation tile floor; the scalloping on the lower edge of the hood and outer edge of the oven door is attractive, as is the door's gold star motif; the iron benches are additions (by Stevens & Brown, 1872), but most of the tin pieces are original; the scale of the cooking accessories is often inconsistent; 8½ " high x 12½" long detail of the pump (missing its handle)
1882 (and 1893) patent date of July 11, 1882 on water reservoir on exterior end wall; large scale accessories compared to the stove, which does not have an oven door; Carl Stirn catalogue of 1893, New York
1893 stove with chimney and arched opening next to floor but no oven door; basin and pipe connected to water pump; Carl Stirn catalogue of 1893, New York
1901 tin kitchen with folding doors and top; the accessories include a colander and fish mould; Youth's Companion, October
below 1914 aluminium kitchen with the same scalloped pair of openings as the 1901 example; aluminium appeared about 1900 in toy manufacturing
1893 "New style this season", a wooden kitchen with the lower 2/3 of the walls lined by imitation tiles, as is the stove, which has a chimney, oven and two stew pots; in the centre of the back wall is a water basin; the larger sized kitchens came with a cook and wooden furniture; likely German in origin; Carl Stirn catalogue, New York
eating: THE DINING ROOM
1894 the American firm McLoughlin produced a set of 4 rooms with lithographed walls showing the furnishings and decor enjoyed by the urban upper classes; this is the dining room with blue panelling (on which carved dead game hangs) over natural wood, panelled wainscoting; a band of wallpaper with oranges and branches runs around the upper part of the room; there is a parquetry floor with an Oriental rug in the centre
The fireplace wall features natural woodwork surrounding the tiled fireplace box surmounted by an overmantel with shelves laden with ornamental china; towering over all is a mounted stag head with sets of smaller horns below; on one side a passageway door leads to the kitchen while on the other, there may be a dish-storage area shielded by screening; the effect is rich and colourful
Grandmother, with her silk gown trailing, enters the parlour through rose curtains hung below an arched screen of spindles; large green palms are in a blue and white floor vase; a German "red stain" table, which bears a painted and turned wood compote, sits against the wainscoting
c1880 set of blue and white, onion pattern china for the dining room, German, hand painted, plates 1½" diameter
c1890 painted treen coffee set, likely German, coffee pot just over 1¼" high
1895 set of paper
furnishings for the dining room; although confusing because the furniture appears splayed
out in preparation for cutting out and assembling, this is a good illustration of the
colours, style and accessories suitable for this time period such as embroidered linens on
the table and sideb
c1910 sideboard in natural oak with cut-out curved supports on each side of the mirror, bun feet, broken pediment on top, metal hardware, likely German in origin, 8¼" high
1872 cast-iron dining table by Stevens & Brown, Cromwell, Conn., USA; detail from their catalogue of 1872 and below a small version with remnants of the once brilliant hand-painting and floral stencilwork; the sharp scalloping of the apron is easier to achieve in metal than in wood
1914 dining room set from Montgomery Ward catalogue of 1914 (still appearing in the Sears Roebuck catalogue of 1921) showing furniture in dark varnish sawn in stylized curves out of flat thin pieces of wood; tables are formed by piecing together two supports, which appear as four scrolled legs; the chairs in the catalogue are 5" high (too large a scale for most dollhouses) but the oval table on the left is only 2¾" high (this leg construction appears in the late 19th century and continues into the 1920s); the set below is in a large scale: the chairs are 7" high and demonstrate the method of sawing out a flat piece for the front legs; the general impression of this type of furniture is Art Nouveau because of the stylized curves
c1915 set by N.D. Cass Company of Athol, Massachusetts; chairs 5" high, the table seems strangely low in comparison to the high-back sidechairs, which have an odd combination of turned front legs and flat cut-out back
c1900 - 1930s an array of German dishes and food
1899 although the toy tea set is difficult to distinguish in this American stereocard (by Kilburn), two young girls and a baby are pouring tea for four co-operative cats; the bed has a lace coverlet and draped curtains; there is an extic looking plant stand and a floral woven carpet
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oard with glazed upper doors for the more visually attractive
kitchen dishes, a hinged flap for extra work space, drawers and panelled doors discretely
hiding the more utilitarian kitchen accessories; a feather duster hangs between the
cupboard and the panelled door with its colourful glass trim leading to the passage (hall)
to the dining room
1913 kitchen of Betty's Bungalow, a lithographed
cardboard house made in the U.S.A. The iron range is set in a wide, exposed red
brick chimney, the opening of which is topped by a white painted shelf, supported on a
pair of curved wood brackets. The range has no metal chimney -- probably an oversight (the
huge brick chimney rising over the roof indicates the use of coal or wood rather than
gas). A brick hearth protects the floor area immediately in front of the stove. The floor
is blue and white tile (or patterned linoleum). The upper walls are painted green, while
the remaining wall area is covered in white tile. The woodwork is painted white. A pair of
faucets are positioned on the wall to serve a sink, supported on legs (not in position).
Transparent yellow curtains are hung on the windows.
1921 in this apartment kitchen in New York, a hanging
plant is positioned between the curtained windows and the lower walls are covered with
white tile; the furnishings are dated by our standards -- there is an ice-box instead of a
refrigerator, a free-standing tall cupboard instead of built-in hanging cupboards and
counters and a gas stove on tall legs instead of the box-like stoves of today; domestic
help is still customary -- including a maid and Sally the cook; from a cardboard
set "This 4 Room Apartment..with 'Invisibles' Cut-Out and Paint...", New York,
1921-23
l into the 1930s
-- in Canadian and American villages and in the country had iron cook stoves, which used
split wood as the fuel. They were offered as an alternative cooking apparatus (to gas and
electric stoves) for dollhouses in toy catalogues until about 1930. 
c1915
"Royal" cook stoves, made in Kenton, Ohio:
above left one with hot water reservoir and warming ovens on stove-pipe portion,
8½" high (missing side extensions) and above right one
retaining its side extensions; 3½" high
Late 19th and early 20th centuries tin kitchens, made in Germany, are
descendants of much earlier toy kitchens, based on real European models. This detail of an
early 19th century drawing (left) of a play kitchen demonstrates an open
fire, burning charcoal, on the top of a tall hearth. The latter has an arched opening for
storing fuel. Smoke is drawn to the hood and chimney. Most later tin kitchens have
imitation-tile fire-boxes, burning coal, and containing an oven. There are round openings
on the stove top surface for heating pots and pans.
oard, elegant kerosene lamp, potted fern, glass vases and
furniture in natural wood with red upholstery; the sideboard is in Rococo Revival style
with applied carvings and cut-out scroll supports on each side of the mirror; (this
is an advertisement for Cosmo Buttermilk toilet soap, Chicago)
1921 as the love of Art Nouveau and Art Deco began to
fade, there was an increasing enthusiasm for classicism in the 1920s resulting in
wainscotting and furniture based on late 18th century styles; lighting is all electrical
in this apartment; from a cardboard set "This 4 Room Apartment..with
'Invisibles' Cut-Out and Paint...", New York, 1921-23
c1890 cardboard box with original hand-painted colours
for "one fine tea set for a good girl" (tiny white ironstone), 5 x 4 x 2 inches
