The Dollhouse, A History Of It's Development.

Dollhouses are still one of the younger generation's most popular toys

, despite also being amongst the most traditional. How did the dollhouse evolve from it's early beginnings, and where can you see some of the best examples, both in museums and online? The dollhouse, a most favoured and well-enjoyed childhood toy for girls (and numerous little boys) is perhaps a little unusual - a traditional toy whose interest still endures despite today's technically - aware new generation. In Great Britain it is not known as a 'dollhouse' but a 'dolls' house' , so that's how I'll on occasion refer to it when we look back at the history of the these magnificent miniatures.

The most impressive and grandest dollhouse in history can surely have no competition - the 'Queen Mary' dollhouse at Windsor castle in England (the second residence of the current Queen, Elizabeth I) stands at over 3 feet tall and takes up an entire room. All the carpets and curtains are copies of those real items at Windsor. The dollhouse includes all of the following (and many more!) features: working elevators, fully plumbed hot running water and electricity, a plumbed-in and flushable toilet, a garden, garage full of cars, a library with properly printed and bound miniature books from every contemporary author of the day, working clocks, suits of armour, keys that fit into tiny locks and even a safe room containing a replica of the crown jewels! Commissioned by Queen Mary - a dollhouse enthusiast - as a 'gift to the nation', she pronounced it 'the best present that anyone could receive'. Representing the skilled work of over a thousand craftsmen from companies all over England, or by minature modelmaker specialists such as 'Twining models' it is a 'must see' for any dollhouse fan and is on permanent display to the public within Windsor castle. You can read more about it and it's amazing features on Wikipedia

Beautiful though it undoubtedly is, the Queen Mary dollhouse is not intended to be played with! And this was also the case with the very first dolls' houses, which began to appear in the C16th. Usually known as as ''Baby Houses', they were not dollhouses' as we now conceive them ('baby' just meant 'small') and they certainly were not intended for children. In fact they were not initially in the shape of a house, but a several exhibit cases, each of which would feature a different room such as a dining room or library. What then was the purpose of the 'baby house'? Filled with little household details, furniture and fabric furnishings, they were for grownups to admire and were generally commissioned by wealthy households in Germany and England. An additional purpose may have been to tutor and train servants in such households in the running of a large house.

When did these types of dollhouse evolve into a widely available child's toy? Throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries many lovely examples of dollhouses were made (the Victoria and Albert's Museum of Childhood in London has a wonderful collection) However these dolls' houses would still have been manufactured by craftsmen used to building full sized houses and the dollhouses would have been far outside the means of all but the very well off in society. Not until the advent of mechanisation did factory processes allowing for mass production of the dollhouse allow for it's development to a product that was affordable by middle class society.

During this period we see the first companies dedicated to the manufacture of dollhouses and their furnishings: Siber and Fleming and Moritz Reichel in Europe and later in the nineteenth century, the Bliss Manufacturing Company in the United States of America. In those early doll houses by companies like Bliss in particular we can see the evolution of the dollhouse from the perfect replication of a real, full-sized building to a child's toy. These dollshouses were made more simply both to appeal to children (with flat-painted walls, not hand painted but decorated with simplified illustrations) and to produce a mass-manufactured and economical product. The evolution towards full affordability and accessibility of the dollhouse was hastened still further in the 20th century with the use of new materials - dollhouse components were now made of tin, plastic and fibre board rather than more costly wood.

At last the dollhouse or 'dolls' house' could arrive at the end of it's journey from an 'amusing trifle' for tremendously rich adults to a popular children's toy, available to nearly everybody. It is still not the cheapest of toys but it is surely the most enduring and shows no signs of fading in popularity.

by: Mary Brand

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