Miss Miles Dolls House, on exhibit at the Victoria & Albert Museum

Miss Miles Dolls House

Amy Miles (1857 – 1928) grew up in a prosperous Victorian household. She made this dolls house when she was in her thirties to help keep the memories of her childhood alive. Following is the description posted on the Victoria & Albert Museum website:

“Made by Amy Miles when she was in her thirties, this evocative dolls’ house looks back to her childhood and the house where she grew up in Friern Barnet, North London. It was one of the first dolls’ houses to be collected by the V&A and has been central to the collection ever since.

“Rather than creating a snapshot of a particular time, Amy Miles included gadgets and inventions popular from the 1850s onwards. The geyser in the bathroom was patented in 1868,

Ileana Otini Miss Miles Dolls House video

but was soon surpassed by more reliable methods of heating water. The telephone in the hall would have appeared after 1876 and domestic electric lights weren’t available until the 1890s. In the dining room sits a tiered white wedding cake – made of real sponge cake and icing. These first appeared at the wedding of Victoria’s son, Prince Leopold, in 1882.

“Amy Miles (1857 – 1928) grew up in a prosperous Victorian household, overseen by her father, John Miles, who was the manager of a book publisher, investor in the New River Company, and active philanthropist. Amy was the youngest of five children, and all the girls were taught at home by governesses.”

Click here for a link to the V&A Miss Miles page which includes many great photographs. And here is a link to the main dolls house collection at the V&A.

Click here, or the Ileana Ottini Miss Miles picture above to see a three and a half minute video.

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. 

Thorne Room Tennessee Entrance Hall

Dollhouse Museum Research

Ellen Egan’s article on making dollhouse museums as part of your research and inspiration mentions 4 of the world’s best. I have added four more dollhouse miniature museums, all right here in the United States.

Susan Downing

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Doing Research For Your Dollhouse By Visiting Dollhouse Museums
By Ellen Egan

An important part of planning the details of your dollhouse is doing a bit of research. Perhaps you want to find out a bit more about the historical period you are trying to represent. Or, perhaps your dollhouse has a theme and you want to be sure to get the details right. You can do some of this research online and at your local library. But, a fun way to research and get ideas is by visiting a dollhouse museum.

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Titania’s Palace at Egeskov Castle in Denmark found on Karen Mardahl’s Flickr stream

Titania’s Palace

The story goes that on a warm day in the Spring of 1907, Sir Nevile Wilkinson was sketching in the woods behind his manor, Mount Merrion House. His daughter Guendolen, age 3, played nearby and suddenly cried out that a fairy ran under the roots of a tree. She felt sorry they had to live underground in damp caves and asked her father to have a proper house built for them.

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