D2009-CMD. Exhibit Photography of "A Child's Eye View."

Long Island Doll House

Dateca. 1910

MediumWood, paper, paint and nails

DimensionsOL. 12'; HO. 6'; OD. 3'6" Dimensions of Dining Room: 40 1/4" x 29 1/4"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1969.1200.1

DescriptionThe doll house is made from individual plywood boxes that fit together within a larger frame under one roof. These room boxes are of different sizes and depths. The backside of the constructed dollhouse is unfinished, suggesting that the house was meant to be seen from only three sides.
It is composed of a front hall, a parlor, a game room, a dining room, a kitchen, a widow’s walk/captain’s walk above the kitchen, an upper hallway, a red bedroom, a music room, a white bedroom, a green bedroom, and a free-standing tool shed.
The architecture of the building has Colonial Revival details, such as the dentillated molding and the room paneling, as well as Victorian elements, like the four-paned rectangular windows.
Label TextLittle is known about the history of this large dollhouse. The Folk Art Museum purchased it from the famous New York toy seller F. A. O. Schwarz in 1969. Mr. Schwarz had recently acquired the dollhouse from a contractor who discovered it in the attic of a Long Island mansion that was to be demolished. Probably the house was based on homes in the area. The dollhouse was displayed briefly in the window of the toyshop on Fifth Avenue before becoming the highlight of the Folk Art Museum’s annual holiday exhibition.
The few original items still with the house varied in date and scale, as might be expected of a house that spanned generations. The furnishings have been supplemented with gifts of additional antique miniatures as well as new items made just for the house, some of which are based on objects in the Folk Art Museum’s collection.

ProvenanceF. A. O. Schwarz, Children's World, New York, New York.

At the time the dollhouse was noted as being built by a craftsman during the Civil War period. Some of the handcrafted furniture dates from the same Civil War years, and some is of a later date, but before the turn of the century. (Comments from Ernest Thauer, Vice President, F. A. O. Schwarz. 9/69.)

Exhibition(s)