A Good look at Peggy Lines' Dolls' House

In August, my friend Jenny and I went to see the V&A Museum of Childhood's 'Small Stories at Home in a Dolls House' exhibition which is on display in the Weston Park Museum in Sheffield until the 7th of January, 2018.

I saw the exhibition when it originally went on display in London but I was very happy to have the opportunity to view it once again.



One of the dolls' houses I enjoyed viewing most in the exhibition was Peggy Lines' dolls' house.



This one-off dolls' house was designed and built in the Lines Brothers [Tri-ang] factory in 1933 as a gift from Walter Lines (one of the three brothers who co-founded the company) to his eldest daughter Peggy.



The house is about six feet long and has eight rooms plus the gallery landing...

   

...and including a room above the garage.



One of the most impressive features of the house has to be the grand hallway and gallery landing.

According to Peggy Lines in her book 'From G&J to Tri-ang', the hallway "had a strong resemblance to the hall at Leigh Place, where we lived, with a staircase (with turned posts) leading to a gallery".



The recessed Mock-Tudor fireplace, the turned balustrades and the wood-clad walls all give the hallway a very grand look.

In this scene we can see Tri-ang Queen Anne Period armchairs either side of the fireplace and Tri-ang Queen Anne Period ladder-back dining chairs arranged around a Pit-a-Pat dining table. The Barton grandfather clock is later in date and the tea set on the table is a much more modern miniature.

 

The little bisque doll in the red gingham dress in the scene represents Peggy and there's a photo nearby (on the wall of the museum) that shows portraits of Peggy as a girl and the little doll, side by side to show the resemblance.



In the living room, there is another lovely Mock-Tudor fireplace in an inglenook with a window to either side, making that whole wall of the room into an excellent feature.

Pretty, fine lawn curtains in Liberty prints are a feature of the house. The large rug is by Pit-a-Pat. The gas fire in the hearth is by Taylor & Barrett and the green metal telephone is by Barrett and Son.

I didn't recognise the bookcase/bureaux piece but then Jenny told me that she thought it was by Bassett-Lowke and, looking at their 1931 catalogue on the Brighton Toy Museum website, it certainly is and in fact, the leather armchair, which I didn't recognise either, is also by on Bassett-Lowke - it is described in the catalogue as "Upholstered and covered in real leather". Bassett-Lowke sourced both of these pieces from the German firm ANFOE.

The clock on the mantle is by Barton and the log basket is by Lundby. The rocking horse looks to be a much more modern miniature as is the floral suite which, to be honest, spoils the whole room for me: there is nothing vintage about it at all and, being such central feature, it's difficult to overlook.

I understand that later owners added the more modern miniatures in the house and in that sense they're part and parcel of it, but to my mind this suite has no place in there and would be better replaced with something more in keeping with the rest of the furnishings and more akin to something Peggy might have had in there originally. But that's just my opinion and I imagine that 99.9% of those who view the house aren't in the least bit bothered!

Personally, I'd try moving the beautiful Westacre three-piece suite from the bedroom down here. Sigh, if only I could play around with it like that!!!



This is a close-up of the picture on the chimney breast and you can also see the the lovely detailing in the chimney breast itself.

In this [very poor] shot of the other side of the room you can just see the side of a Tri-ang Queen Anne Period writing bureaux to the left and behind the bisque boy there is a lovely Bretton cupboard with a very nice wireless radio atop.



In the dining room there is a Tri-ang Chippendale Period dining table with matching chairs and sideboard. I don't recognise the writing bureaux, nor the dresser.

There is another Mock-Tudor fireplace in the dining room and in this close-up we can see the lovely clock on the mantle and the little painting above it.



The final downstairs room is the kitchen.  I find that there is something very appealing about the colours and simplicity of this room.

I'm not sure why the fireplace is empty - maybe the household bricked or boarded it up when they converted to gas, as many households did!

The plaster cake on the table is by Kaybot Novelties and the two metal dishes of food are by Dol-Toi. The bottle of wine and the Edam cheese are modern miniatures.

Apparently the sink had running water!

Upstairs the bathroom is quite a plain room, but the bath and sink both had running water too...

...and there is a lovely little Rusco linen basket.

Bedroom number one has a lovely Tri-ang Queen Anne Period bed, wardrobe and demi-lune side table in it.



But for me, the most drool-worthy furniture in the house isn't any of the Tri-ang pieces: it has to be the beautiful matching Westacre fourposter bed, Ottoman and three-piece suite in the larger bedroom.  I could be tempted to give my right arm for this!

The fireplace in this bedroom has a green tile effect and again it's in an inglenook with windows either side. There is a very pretty picture of flowers resting on the mantle.

And the final room is the one sited above the garage which is in use as a third bedroom. I don't seem to have taken a photograph of the room in its entirety but it contains a very smart bedroom suite by Elgin of Enfield and this is a close-up of the gorgeous bed and bedding.

So that's the end of my little tour of Peggy Lines' wonderful house. What a lucky little girl she was!

Until next time,

Zoe

[My apologies for the poor quality of some of these photos: the lighting in the exhibition hall was a bit dim and because the house was behind glass it was difficult too to get any distance shots without the inevitable reflections.]