Over a decade ago, I stopped by a local school’s holiday fair and took a chance on three raffle tickets for a beautiful handmade doll house. It was a $6 investment, and to my surprise, I won!
My lucky win was this beautiful old doll house. It's large, measuring 27 inches wide, 27 inches deep and 22 inches high. Someone (I wish I knew who) hand made it and donated it to the raffle. It’s a scale model of an existing house called the Burr Homestead in Fairfield, Connecticut, a town about a twenty minute drive north of us.
Once the home of the influential Thaddeus Burr family, the Burr Homestead was the site of important social and political gatherings for many years. The family’s guests included Samuel Adams, the Marquis de Lafayette and none other than George Washington himself. The original building was burned by the British in 1779; the present Georgian structure was built circa 1790 utilizing the surviving chimneys and foundation.
Today, the Burr Homestead can be booked for weddings and private parties and is maintained by the Fairfield Historical Society. Surrounded by four acres of colorful gardens, this home was where John Hancock wed Dorothy Quincy in 1775.
The front face of my Burr Mansion lifts off to reveal 12 rooms. When I first brought this empty doll house home, I had every intention of furnishing it properly, with items suitable to it's 16th century heritage. However, once I did my research and visited several doll house shops, I realized how time consuming and costly outfitting this house would be.
Both of my kids were in elementary school at the time, and I wanted them to be able to play with and enjoy our new doll house. I discovered that Playmobil makes rooms of furniture for their doll house line that were the perfect size for our house. So we decided to furnish every room with plastic Playmobil furniture, housewares and people that are both colorful and indestructible.
We know our doll house interior is not historically correct or esthetically perfect. And I'll bet some doll house experts are cringing at its decor. Nevertheless, this house gave my children hours of fun without having to worry about breaking precious pieces.
Maybe someday when time permits, I'll undertake the project of filling our doll house with the right furnishings. But by then, we'll probably have grandchildren. Maybe I should just hang on to the Playmobil stuff!
Susan
Now THAT is a great raffle prize! I bet your kids had so much fun playing with that. xo, suzy
Posted by: georgiapeachez | August 22, 2009 at 10:00 AM
I think it's great that you chose to let the dollhouse be used by the kids. It doesn't take away from it's historic value and you're lucky to know it's provenance. Beautiful piece.
Posted by: Christine | August 22, 2009 at 11:19 AM
It is wonderful that you know the history of your dollhouse and you can pass it onto your grandchildren.
I am sure your children will have many happy memories playing with the furniture. Great idea!
Posted by: Ruth | August 22, 2009 at 09:14 PM
What a gorgeous dollhouse, Susan! It is really stunning. Someone took a great deal of care in replicating the original house. I love that you made is 'playable' for your children! I've seen the prices for furniture and it would be very expensive to outfit in period style. I think I see grandkids playing with it in the future!
Posted by: Claudia | August 23, 2009 at 09:01 AM
That's so neat...a handmade dollhouse based on such an historical home...and, for $6! The plastic play toys were a smart idea - I should do that with mine & you should definitely hold onto it for the grandkiddos to come. :)
Posted by: tammyCA | August 23, 2009 at 01:10 PM
I'm not cringing at all - I love the Playmobil furniture and enjoyed playing with it at least as much as my kids did.
Posted by: barbara | August 24, 2009 at 10:55 AM
Dear Susan,
Trolling the internet for interesting pictures of doll houses and I found yours. I'm gathering information for my "Keynote" program that one day might use to present to hobbyist or school children. May i please use your pictures? Thank you Carolyn W
Posted by: www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000283027959 | October 08, 2009 at 01:29 PM
I have a rather dumb question, but how is the house laid out on the inside? I would like to make a similar house. Does it have 4 rooms on each floor and a center hall?
Posted by: Chris | June 19, 2013 at 03:27 PM