Peter Riches Dolls House exterior, found on TheRichest

Peter Riches Dolls House

Miniaturist Peter Riches is planning his first world cruise after a Canadian fan spotted this 23-room dollhouse online and purchased it for $82,000. The 1:12 scale, 10-bed miniature has its own servants’ quarters, a music room with grand piano, a hand-crafted games room with snooker table and a library with over 1,000 separately bound books. It took Peter Riches a painstaking 15 years to complete.

Peter Riches Dolls House interior, found on Universe of Luxury

In The Beginning

When the project began, Peter Riches was a building contractor. He would spend all day at the construction site of a single-family home, then go home and spend his leisure time working on a house for dolls. He works out the propositions of his models and uses a magnifying glass to ensure every subtle aspect of his creations are perfect.

The shell of the house is plaster, with 32,0000hand-etched bricks on its walls. He cut the 5,000 roof tiles from cardboard. The house measures 4’ wide, 83” deep and stands 3’ high. Placed on its stand, the whole construction sits at eye-level at around the 6’ mark.

Peter Riches Dolls House piano, found on The Telegraph

Peter Riches Dolls House game room, found on The Telegraph

The largest room in the building – the main dining room – is 50” wide, 16” deep and 12” high. The bedroom has miniature chests of drawers, a dog and cat, and chandeliers. Peter is only selling the work to make space for his next project
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Even A Secret Room

The smallest room – dubbed the ‘secret room’ because there is no visible access to it and viewers can only see it through a small window at the side of the house – is just 10” wide, 12” deep and 12” high.

Peter Riches Dolls House music room, found on The Telegraph

This secret room contains a decorating table, step-ladder and tiny tins of paint. It’s meant to have the look of room under construction, to give the viewer the sense it was a real house, a work in progress.

The game room has a hand-crafted snooker table. The snooker balls are made of necklace beads.
Window glass is hand-made from pieces of flattened bottle plastic. The house even has a basement, with a work surface, dresser and milk churn.

Peter’s fascination with model-building started when he was five, making model airplanes. His hobby progressed to building bigger and more intricate designs, including an 8’ model of the HMS Victory from thousands of matchsticks. This took seven years.

His next project is a model Sussex Yeoman’s Long-house, dating back to 1550. The plans are drawn, and it’s going to be about the same size as the dolls house. The thatched roof will be made of coconut hairs.

Susan Downing, with Patrick Owens

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I invite you to visit my Etsy Shop where I offer many accessories and pieces of furniture in 1:12 scale.