Dolls' Houses
The Museum's dolls' house collection is the largest British collection not in private hands. The oldest house, the Nuremberg House of 1673, is one of the Museum's greatest treasures. There is also a small group of 18th century houses, including the magnificent Tate Baby House of about 1760, and a rich holding from the 19th century. Some were made by carpenters whilst others, such as the house given to the Museum in 1921 by Queen Mary, have royal connections.
The Nuremberg House - 1673
This house was made in Nuremberg in 1673 - the date is written on the chimney. It is the oldest house in the Museum and is very similar to (though much smaller than) the houses in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg, Germany.
Tate Baby House - 1760
One of the best known doll or 'baby' (meaning small) houses in the collection, dating from about 1760.
The Denton Welch House - 1783
This house is named after Denton Welch, a famous artist and writer born in Shanghai in 1915. Welch came to England in 1933 to study art.
Mrs Hibberd's House - 1800
This house was made in the early 1800s, probably by a carpenter. In 1965 Mrs Winifred Alice Hibberd bought it from a shop in London for £60. She spent 14 years restoring and furnishing it. She noted in her diary that it 'had originally been made for a family living in a house in Regents Park Terraces'.
The Killer Cabinet House - 1835
An elegant example of a dolls' house in a cabinet, made in the early 1800s and commissioned by a Manchester doctor, Dr John Killer.
Mrs Bryant's Pleasure - 1860
This house is a good example of a dolls' house which was not a child's plaything. Instead it was made for a lady called Mrs Bryant in the early 1860s.
Betty Pinney's House - 1870
Betty Pinney was born in 1907. She studied art and became a wallpaper and textile designer for the Edinburgh Weavers and Sandersons.
Amy Miles' House - 1890
Made in 1890 for a little girl called Amy Miles, this house contains some of the latest domestic technology of the time in miniature, a billiard room, and separate nursery and schoolroom.
Three Devonshire Villas - 1900
This house is a model of a house in Kilburn High Road, North London, which no longer exists. It was made in 1900 for the owner Mr Samuel Loebl, as a present for his daughter, Cecy. Both his daughter and his grand-daughter played with the house. His grand-daughter donated the house to the Museum in 1972.
The Jessie M. King House - 1913
Jessie M King was one of the artists who were part of the Glasgow School in the late 19th and the early 20th centuries.
The Tri-ang House - 1930
George and Joseph Lines were the most important British toy makers of the 19th century. They made rocking horses and other toys, and by the end of the century were producing a large number of dolls' houses of different types.
The Modern Dolls' House - 1930
This is one of a group of dolls' houses made by the company Lines Bros. of Merton, Surrey whose trademark was Tri-ang.
The Princess' House - 1935
This dolls' house was made in the 1930s by Lines Bros. of Merton, Surrey whose trademark was Tri-ang.
The Kaleidoscope House - 2002
The Kaleidoscope House was designed by Peter Wheelwright, a practising New York architect who has designed a number of homes for New York artists, and Laurie Simmons, an internationally-renowned artist and photographer who uses dolls' house imagery in her work. One of her best known images is of a house on a pair of women's legs.
