This doll's house was given to the donor for Christmas in 1942 when she was 7 years old. It had been purchased from the Sydney toy and model shop Walther & Stevenson Ltd and was most probably made in Australia during the Second World War. Over the next few years the doll's house was furnished with pieces chosen by the donor on trips to the Walther & Stevenson toy shop, and these are still in the doll's house.

The earliest surviving dolls' houses were not made for children but commissioned by European nobles in the 17th century. Some in Germany were used to teach young girls household duties. In England during the 18th and early 19th centuries, dolls' houses were called 'baby houses' because at the time dolls were called 'babies'. These were made for mothers and daughters living in grand houses by their estate carpenters and had locks for safekeeping. Gradually the importance of children's play emerged and baby houses became dolls' houses. By the end of the 19th century they were extremely popular and being commercially mass produced. By the 1930s the English firm, Lines Brothers Ltd, trading as Tri-ang Toys, was producing a wide range of dolls' houses, the most popular of which was the mock-Tudor style. This Australian-made doll's house is thought to have been a copy.

This doll's house is significant because it is in original, as new, condition and therefore encapsulates a single bygone era of house design and furnishings. It is a fascinating microcosm of Australian social and domestic history during the late 1930s and early 1940s. The furnishings are also an important record of the modest domestic styles popular in Australian suburban homes of the time. It illustrates a past way of life when home entertainment came from the wireless in the lounge room and refrigeration was provided by the ice chest in the kitchen.

Furthermore, the doll's house is a very noteworthy survivor because it has remained in the possession of its only owner for 66 years, together with the original furniture. Because dolls' houses are large bulky items to store once children have outgrown them, they tend not to be kept and relatively few survive. If they do, it is extremely unusual for the original loose furniture to be retained as it is always vulnerable to separation, change and loss over time, especially when used by succeeding generations.

'Dolls' Houses in Australia 1870-1950', Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales, Glebe, NSW, 1999


Margaret Simpson
March 2008

The empty doll's house was purchased new in 1942 from the well-known Sydney toy and model shop, Walther & Stevenson Pty Ltd. Furniture for the doll's house was purchased separately from the same shop over several years. Walther & Stevenson were established in Hunter Street, Sydney, in 1900, making saddles and harnesses. The firm moved to 395 George Street in 1904 and remained there until they closed about 65 years later. Their usual arrangement with rural customers was by mail order and numerous requests were made for toys suitable for children's Christmas presents. This encouraged the company to open a small toy department in 1930. At this time they mainly stocked German-made toys. In 1935, a Mr A. Anderson became a director of the firm and the stock of toys increased. By the late 1930s the basement area was full of model trains, farm animals, toy soldiers and working steam engine models. After the director's son Kenneth Anderson took over the firm, the saddlery line was removed altogether and toys occupied both floors of the store. During the Second World War, when access to British and European toys was curtailed, Australian toy manufacturing flourished and many locally made items were sold in Walther & Stevenson's store including Australian-style timber farm buildings and accessories. From the 1960s versatile moulded plastics began to be used in toys instead of metal and timber. Japanese tin toys, as well as a large number of imported British and American toys forced local manufacturers out of business. Walther & Stevenson failed to move quickly enough with the times and had to close in about 1970.

This doll's house is thought to be an Australian-made copy of the popular mock Tudor-style doll's house made from the 1930s to the mid-1950s by the English firm Lines Bros Ltd whose trademark was Tri-ang Toys. In Britain the mock Tudor style dolls' houses were based on the half-timbered houses being built in their thousands on the outskirts of most cities in England. Osbert Lancaster immortalised them as 'Stockbrokers Tudor' in his 1939 book "Homes Sweet Homes". Perhaps this doll's house was in fact the result of an enterprising Australian tradesman who produced dolls' houses in bulk for Walther & Stevenson from his home workshop.

Almost all the furniture for this doll's house is made of timber. It is sturdy, well-made and especially designed for children to play with rather than just look at. Under the two armchairs and kitchen icechest are stamps indicating that permission had been given for the wood to be used during the Second World War. It is thought that this furniture was also mass produced locally for Walther & Stevenson. Manufacturers of the furniture include T & R, Kleeware and Marquis.

Macdonald, Bruce, "Spring, Spark & Steam: an illustrated guide to Australasian toy and model trains", Australian Model Railway Magazine and Eveleigh Press, Matraville, NSW, 2005.

The empty doll's house was given as a Christmas present to the donor in 1942 when she was 7 years old and living with her parents at Hurlstone Park, a suburb in Sydney. The event was recorded by the donor's father when the doll's house was carried outside into the garden and the donor was photographed with it wearing her best white voile dress. The photograph was taken to send to the donor's grandmother and aunts in Scotland.

The doll's house had been purchased new from the Sydney toy and model shop, Walther & Stevenson Pty Ltd. It was chosen by the donor's Scottish-born mother Elizabeth Vanderfield because of its 'British appearance'. The furniture for the house was chosen by Janet and purchased from Walther & Stevenson, piece-by-piece, over several years on numerous trips to the city by tram with Janet's mother or aunt, who lived with the family. The donor was an only child and looked after the doll's house very carefully only allowing one or two very special friends to play with it in the sunroom of her childhood home. The donor named the house's china occupant 'Doll's House Dolly'. All the timber furniture was purchased during the Second World War, and shortly after the War the plastic baby's pram, suitcase, potty chair and toilet were added. The soft furnishings including the curtains, bedspread, and cushions, as well as the knitted outfit for Doll's House Dolly, were made by Janet's aunt, who also had a great love of the doll's house. When she had outgrown the doll's house the donor's mother had tried to encourage her to give it to a nearby children's home but the donor had received so much enjoyment gradually collecting the furniture she just could not part with it.

The doll's house remained in the donor's possession, immaculately maintained, throughout her life and over that time only one small piece, a fireplace fire iron, was lost. Although tempted to add more contemporary pieces to the doll's house, the donor resisted and it is now a complete time capsule of Australian domestic social history and childhood from the early 1940s.

In 1999 the donor visited an exhibition of dolls' houses mounted by the Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales where she saw a similar-looking doll's house to her own, the Tudor one made by Tri-ang Toys. In 2008 the donor kindly presented her much-treasured doll's house and its contents to the Powerhouse Museum.

Doll's house and contents, wood / metal / cotton / plastic, doll's house maker unknown, possibly Australia, 1942-1947

The doll's house is a fully-furnished, two-storey, five-room, timber building, in the architectural style known as Inter-War Old English. This style was commonly used for full-size domestic and commercial buildings in Australia from about 1915 until 1940, but especially in the 1930s, when Australia had strong nostalgic ties to England. It has a cream-painted asymmetrical exterior with three gables which are decorated in imitation half timbering. The windows are painted to resemble leadlight glazing and the surrounding timber work, front door and double garage door are finished in green with red highlights. The walls are painted with climbing plants while a pair of sectioned and painted pinecones provide an interpretation of a garden against one wall. Access to the doll's house is via two hinged doors on the front facade. Inside, the windows are fitted with white filet lace curtains. The doll's house sits on a green painted-base with a red painted driveway.

The doll's house is constructed on the classic one room deep pattern. The furnished rooms comprise a dining room, kitchen, lounge room, bathroom and bedroom, each with a small electric light fitting/globe attached to the ceiling.The three rooms on the top floor, dining room, kitchen and lounge room all connect with archways and the stairwell in the bedroom on the lower floor lead up to the lounge room. The dining room has a stained-timber sideboard, chairs, table and drinks trolley. The kitchen features a cream-painted timber table, chairs, dresser, sink, ice chest and cast-iron gas stove. The lounge room is fitted with a combination bookcase and desk, grandfather clock, open fireplace with metal fittings, wireless and two 1930s-style lounge chairs. The bathroom has a white 1930s-style hand basin, bath and toilet, as well as a plastic baby's potty chair. The bedroom furniture features a pale green-painted timber dressing table, large cupboard and bed, together with a china doll, plastic pram and suitcase. The house also has a number of accessories including lamps, doilies, bowls, a clock, jewellery box and a small plastic cat.

Made: 1942 - 1947

The base of some furniture is stamped, see part records for details.

2008/121/1

1942 - 1947

470 mm

640 mm

360 mm