I have made some blog posts before about Cabinet dollhouses, Victorian dollhouses or Tudorstyle dollhouses, and so on, but today I am going to write about the most extraordinary/expensive or peculiar vintage dollhouses in the world, all on one page.
You might have seen a few of them already on my site, but obviously, for some of them, that can not be avoided sorry! I must say, during my research, I was saying 'WOW' a few times and I am sure that you will too, so let's dive straight into things!
Dollhouse number 1: The Faith Bradford dollhouse.
Now, this one I didn't know about, but it was recommended by Eleni, a fan of my website, on my Facebook group. (thanks again Eleni!).
Faith Bradford (1880-1970), was a retired librarian and of course passionate about dollhouses. From childhood on, she always collected or received miniature furniture and mini household items.
This dollhouse had 23 rooms (5 stories tall) and it was filled with 1354 items, mostly early 20th-century vintage, and it was built on a scale of one inch to one foot. I haven't found the estimated price of this dollhouse, unfortunately.
The dolls in the house represented Mr. and Mrs. Peter Doll, their 10 children, 2 grandparents, 5 servants, and 20 pets.
The dollhouse of Faith Bradford was donated to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, which is closed for the time being. In normal times, this is still visited by plenty of people, young and a little bit less young 😉
You can take a virtual tour of all the floors by following this link. She even had a scrapbook where she described the evolution of her house and working methods!
Dollhouse number 2: Colleen Moore's Fairy Castle.
Colleen Moore ( born as Kathleen Morrison, 1900-1988) was a 'superstar' of the silent-film era. She became a successful investor after her Hollywood career, earning $12.500 per week, which was a fortune at that time. This way she could pursue her childhood dream and passion: dollhouses.
She had designed a very charming 'Fairy Castle' dollhouse, which is 9 feet square and stands 14 feet tall, and has 11 rooms. Spending half a million dollars (yes, that's $500.000) from 1928 to 1935, she employed about 100 different craftsmen to build it.
There were actually never any dolls or fairies in the house because she would 'see them' :-). The reason why the floating staircase and the hall didn't have banisters also, was because fairies have wings obviously, ha!
The castle is filled with anything rich, stylish, and fancy you can imagine (have a look at the video below and be amazed!).
It has tiny paintings, dainty chandeliers made of diamonds and emeralds, Cinderella's glass slippers, and so much more. The fairy castle even has a miniature book that is signed by 6 presidents and other books have been handwritten by famous authors like F. Scott Fitzgerald!
A 'magic' garden is also there, with a working fountain and a weeping willow tree that cries 'real' tears. Also, running water is in it and real glowing lights.
Conservators have spent 4 months restoring the dollhouse and that cost around $200.000!
It was donated to the Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry in 1949, where you can still visit it. There have been books written about this dollhouse as well.
Dollhouse number 3 is from The Netherlands: the house of Rembrandt.
Simone Karsbergen built a dollhouse that looks exactly like the real house from the painter called Rembrandt, who was one of the most famous painters in Europe during the 17th century.
This house was made on a scale of 1:12 and it took Simone three years to build. It is estimated to cost 20.000€ to 30.000 €. Everything is painted and made by hand.
In the video below she explains how the floor was made. The floor tiles were made from clay, all separate pieces glued to the surface. Then painted so that they have a green, antique-looking glaze. After that, they were joined and finished with varnish.
So this one is for sure not the most expensive one on my list or doesn't look like one of the other vintage dollhouses, but I wanted to mention it, cause I found it interesting and it is made by my neighbors, the Dutch! 🙂
The video below is not in English sorry..