A Dollhouse Fit For A Queen

January 27, 2014

Three fine-scale commissions in the first half of the 20th century greatly influenced the wave of enthusiasm for miniatures in the 1970s and inspired collectors like T/m founder Barbara Marshall. We’ll take a look at all three commissions here on Small Talk, starting with Queen Mary’s Dollhouse at Windsor Castle. Created at the end of WWI as a token of appreciation to the Queen, the dollhouse is a memorial of the art and craft of the time, and helped revive British trade in the postwar depression.

Between 1921 and 1924 Sir Edwin Lutyens, the star architect of the day, organized 1,500 artists, craftsmen, and manufacturers to create the symmetrical building in a scale of one inch to one foot. The house has four elevations, forty rooms and vestibules, a grand marble staircase, and two elevators. The garage houses six perfectly functioning automobiles. Every room in the house is fully furnished with a working fireplace. No detail was forgotten… the house includes electricity and running water, even the toilets flush!