'The Original Swan' will be familiar to anyone who owns a copy of 'The Vivien Greene Dolls' House Collection' (1995) as it is featured in that book.
The house is dated to 1865-70 and is a back-opener. It was bought in a derelict state and converted into a hotel by Ms Greene.
The bar was specially made for the hotel. [There is a cellar in between these two downstairs rooms.]
Though it's furnished in a similar style, I can only spot one or two of the original contents (on the bar) shown in Vivien Greene's book, so guess it must have been purchased unfurnished.
We know that the next house, Yew Tree Cottage, was at one time owned by Faith Eaton as eagle-eyed Jenny spotted it in an old exhibition catalogue, produced by Faith Eaton and Michal Morse in 1986.
It is dated to the 1880s and has eleven rooms, stairs, dairy and stable.
It was apparently built for an Ellen Richards at the family iron foundry and it is a replica of the family home near Birmingham.
The rooms are small but have a very charming and cosy feel to them.
The kitchen (or maybe it's the dairy?) and the stable are brilliant!
Next up is Stafford House which appears in 'Dolls' Houses' by Olivia Bristol and Leslie Geddes-Brown (1997)
The house is furnished as one dwelling inside but when the doors are closed it looks like two terraced houses, each with its own front door - maybe for two sisters to play with.
The house is dated by Bristol and Geddes-Brown to c1830.
The toilet apparently has a working flush!
Happily, much of the furniture seen in the Bristol & Geddes-Brown book has stayed with the house, though a couple of rooms have switched floors.
The inhabitants are still there too, though the lady in green might be a visitor.
This looks like relatively recent wallpaper to me - Laura Ashley? I might be completely wrong.
I LOVE the treen tea set on the dresser!
Well, that's it for today - more houses from the museum very soon.
Until next time,
Zoe
Fabulous to be able to see everything again. Very interested to read that the furniture with the Original Swan is not the same as in Vivien Greene's book.
ReplyDeleteYes, I can only see only a few objects on the bar that match up with the photos in VG's book, otherwise everything seems to be different. It's nice though that whoever refurnished it obviously tried to do it in a similar style.
ReplyDeleteGoodness, what magificence! I think my favourite is the pink bedroom in the second house, though it's very hard to choose. I actually own one of those flushing loos - a very battered example bought cheaply in a local shop :-)
ReplyDeleteThere's something that fascinates me about 'working' miniatures!
Delete