Popular in Britain since the 18th century, dolls’ houses were traditionally collectable items for adults rather than children’s toys. Originally the preserve of the wealthy, they were used for displaying valuable miniatures that were exact replicas of household objects, and were usually specially commissioned from some of the finest craftsmen. It was not until the Victorian era that they started to become playthings. Soon they were being mass produced, taking away their exclusivity and making them more widely accessible. Many dolls’ houses of the past have survived, giving us a detailed and accurate glimpse into our ancestors’ lives as they reflect the architectural styles, domestic lives and attitudes of the past.

Early German and Dutch dolls’ houses
The dolls’ house craze started in Europe in the 16th century, the earliest known miniature house being one commissioned by Albert V of Bavaria in 1558 as a replica of one of his own ducal residences. Built and furnished by local skilled craftsmen, the miniature house was originally intended as a plaything for Albert’s daughter but instead finished up in his own extensive collection of antiques, curios and other treasures. The Munich Baby House, as it was known, was destroyed by a fire at the ducal palace in 1674, but surviving records reveal the extent of the opulence and grandeur of the house, the style of the furniture and other furnishings and the way such a house would have been organised.

The Munich Baby House also established a trend. Soon it was popular among the aristocracy and the wealthy middle classes to own a baby house, which they would fill with exquisite soft furnishings and accurate reproductions of ornaments and other domestic objects, all reflecting the wealth and status of their owners.

Baby houses also had an educational function. For young ladies, many of whom were unable to read, they were an excellent way of learning about domestic skills and the principles of household management.

By the 17th century, miniature houses had become popular in The Netherlands, but they were quite different in style. Built as collectors’ cabinets rather than as replica houses, they were elaborate, beautifully-carved showcases, filled with rare and valuable objects, all intended as conspicuous conversation pieces with which to impress visitors. So great was their value that they often formed part of a young lady’s dowry.

British dolls’ houses
Baby houses started to appear in Britain in around the late 17th century, their popularity increasing during the 18th century. One of the earliest known examples is a baby house belonging to Ann Sharp, daughter of the Archbishop of York and goddaughter to Princess (later Queen) Anne. It was Princess Anne who gave Ann the baby house, possibly for her fourth birthday.

Unusually, Ann Sharp’s house (now in a private collection) was built in the Dutch cabinet style. Most of the houses in Britain throughout the 17th and 18th centuries followed the German trend of replicating house styles popular at the time. These were often elaborate in design and filled with household items and dressed dolls that reflected the fashions of the period.

It was during the 19th century that dolls’ houses gradually developed from being showpieces for wealthy adults into playthings for young children. As the new century dawned, dolls’ house production was starting to become more commercial, with small family businesses springing up in Britain and Germany, and the first marketing catalogues began to appear. The effects of the Industrial Revolution were evident, too, as dolls’ houses increasingly reflected the advances in technology. Nineteenth century inventions, such as the telephone, electric light bulbs, vacuum cleaners, carpet sweepers, typewriters and refrigerators, all found their way into contemporary dolls’ houses.

As the century progressed, dolls’ houses continued to be status symbols for the wealthy, but they became more accessible for other sections of society, from the comfortably-off middle classes to the poorer working class families. This paved the way for dolls’ houses to be increasingly regarded as toys for children, whose imaginations could take flight as they played with miniature versions of houses that were often of a similar style to their own.

For the historian, this gives greater insights into the lives of all sections of Victorian society and reflects the disparity between the rich and the poor, from the elaborate, over-filled houses of the wealthy to the austerity of working class houses.

Mass production
Towards the end of the 19th century, and continuing into the 20th century, dolls’ houses were mass produced, which meant they were competitively priced and more accessible than ever before. Most were simply styled and constructed, decorated to reflect contemporary tastes in wallpaper, curtains and other furnishings, and usually featuring either one or two hinged doors to open up the front of the house and reveal its interior.

One of the most popular mass-produced dolls’ houses of the late 19th century was the box-back house generally associated with the London-based firm of Silber and Fleming. Simple but attractive, a typical Silber and Fleming house featured brightly-coloured painted brickwork, a flat roof with parapet, symmetrically-arranged windows, flat back and sides, front door with steps and portico, and a painted base. Some of the more elaborate models included first floor balconies, window boxes, bay windows and moulded columns.

The neat, symmetrical interior featured a central stairway with four or six rooms, most of which included wooden furniture, central chimney breast and fireplace, with a boiler and range in the kitchen.

The Silber and Fleming houses resembled the two- or three-storey terraced houses typical of towns and cities in the Victorian era. They were also robustly built, making them ideal toys for young children and thereby reflecting the changing attitudes towards dolls’ houses during the latter half of the 19th century.

Another leader in dolls’ house production was Lines Brothers Ltd, later known as Triang, which emerged just after the First World War. Triang’s houses, with their mock-Tudor exteriors, reflect the popularity of Tudor-style houses during the 1920s and 30s. One of the appeals of the Triang houses was that they were affordable to most, as they ranged in size and style from simple thatched cottages with just four rooms to grand, ornate mansions with six or more rooms.

Inside, the houses reflected contemporary furniture and décor, with tin plate cookers, sinks, fireplaces, dressers, staircases, wooden furniture and accessories; some of the grander models included fitted kitchens and bathrooms, wiring for electric lights and garages.

Like Silber and Fleming, Triang’s robust and brightly-coloured houses reflected the changing role of dolls’ houses in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, from adult collectables to children’s toys.

Ironically, while dolls’ houses continue to be toys for children, a growing fascination with antique dolls’ houses has brought things firmly full circle and they have become, once more, adult collectables. But their purpose has changed; adult collectors are now less concerned with status symbols and much more interested in what these fascinating miniatures can tell us about our past.

Further Reading
Halina Pasierbska Dolls’ Houses from the V&A Museum of Childhood (V&A Publishing, 2015)
Olivia Bristol & Leslie Gedes-Brown Dolls’ Houses: Domestic life and architectural styles in miniature from the 17th century to the present day (Mitchell Beazley, 1997)