Wooden Dollhouses

Wooden dollhouses have been delighting children and grownups alike for centuries. The smallest things in life are often the most enchanting, and wooden dollhouses both old and new continue to hold an extraordinary fascination for all who experience them.

Historical Toys Though they'd existed in some form since at least the 1600s, wooden dollhouses soared into popularity in the 1800s, a time when toy makers lavished hours of loving care creating the most beautiful and intricately detailed toys. Many of these 19th-Century efforts can be seen in museums. At the Delaware Toy & Miniature Museum, for example, you can find a display of Bliss & German wooden dollhouses. Squat and narrow and painted in red brick and yellow trim, these wooden dollhouses radiate the domestic bliss and contentment of the parents who would purchase them.

The Fairy Castle
The Fairy Castle at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago presents an entirely different air. This wooden dollhouse stretches the limits of both words. Commissioned in 1928 by early movie star Colleen Moore, the Fairy Castle measures 8'7" by 8'2" by 7'7" and cost $500,000 to build. Its opulent mythology-themed rooms feature over 200,000 miniatures and such flourishes as gold cutlery, platinum chairs, and Vienna-made wall tapestries that contain what are still some of the smallest stitches ever stitched.

Wooden Dollhouses Today
Contemporary parents have a plethora of wooden dollhouses and styles from which they can choose. You get to decide whether time will be spent planning the decorative details, or just rearranging the furniture. Whether assembled or unassembled, furnished or unfurnished, all wooden dollhouses promise hours of fantasy and fun.