I have had a life-long love affair with dollhouse miniatures, and careers in art education and interior design. I hope to combine these life experiences to help other miniature enthusiasts get more out of this wonderful hobby we enjoy, a hobby that often reaches the level of an art form. Susan Downing
That’s what a Daily Mail headline writer called “Langdon Hall.” Leonard Martin spent 26 years building this miniature Georgian manor house. Is this the world’s greatest dolls house? There is lots of competition for that title, but it fits my definition of an Amazing Miniature.
Here’s the story behind the building of the amazing project in Leonard Martin’s own words, found on the Hungerford Antique Mall site:
Categories: amazing miniatures, Georgian
Queen Mary’s Dolls House Library
Queen Mary, wife of King George V. was an obsessive collector of ‘tiny craft.’She especially liked objects that had a connection to the Royal family. By her late 40s, the Queen had amassed a valuable collection of miniature items.
Princess Marie Louise, George V’s cousin, and Queen Victoria’s granddaughter was at an “at home” one Sunday afternoon at the height of the social season. Another party-goer was Edwin Lutyens, a leading architect of the day. The Princess later claimed that ‘on the impulse of the moment’ she mentioned that it would be nice if the Queen had some sort of large cabinet for all her diminutive treasures.
Categories: amazing miniatures, dollhouses, Great Dollhouses
Marc Mead’s Art Deco Home Theater
I have always been excited at the prospects of what technology could bring to the dollhouse universe. Marc Mead nailed it with his art deco home theater! What ideas do you have for lights, camera OR action in a dollhouse miniature?
Categories: amazing miniatures, art deco, room boxes
Sara Rothe Cabinet Dollhouse, Gemeente Museum, The Hague
On April 2, 1743, Sara Rothe was the high bidder on 3 dollhouses created by Cornelia van der Gon, a leading dollhouse builder of the time. The incentive seems to have been to scavenge these dollhouses for their contents to improve the two cabinet dollhouse Rothe already owned. Apparently, it worked out. The dollhouse in the Franz Hals Museum is amazing. The one at on exhibit at the Gemeente Museum at The Hague equally so.
Categories: amazing miniatures, cabinet, dollhouses, Dutch, Great Dollhouses
