maisondepoupees poupendol= poupees puppen dolls

Our friend Lynda G. Christian has generously prepared for our site a magnificent disk setting out the large German dollhouse that she and her husband bought at the United Federation of Doll Clubs (UFDC) annual convention this summer in Las Vegas, Nevada. Here you can see it in all its detail. The photos taken by Lynda's husband, John, are excellent, and the English and French texts were written by Lynda. She has been studying French assiduously for many years, and she enjoys trying her hand at French composition.

Lynda is not unknown to American doll collectors--she has written one article for Doll News, the official publication of the UFDC, and two articles for Antique Doll Collector, an American publication. She will be publishing a third article in ADC this December on Neapolitan Creche figures. She also wrote a long article for the Convention Book for the UFDC convention in 2006, she was a speaker at the 2008 convention and will be speaking again this summer at the 2009 convention on Creche figures.

Doll News is the official publication of the UFDC. Francois Theimer advertises his doll auctions in this publication. There are many photos in this magazine of beautiful, rare dolls, particularly in the scholarly articles of our own Sammy Odin who recently had an article in Doll News with wonderful photos of outstanding dolls.

Moritz Gottschalk Dollhouse

In 1910 the famous German toy maker, Moritz Gottschalk,1840-1930, made this large and imposing dollhouse. It measures 45" (114 cm) tall, 33" (83 cm) wide, and 18" (46 cm) deep. The house is painted in a soft shade of yellow with a grey blue trim. The windows and brown doors are framed in white. Eight plaster medallions are placed below the bay windows on the front of the house (one apparently dropped off and was replaced with a simple plaster oval.)

Note the mailbox on the right of the door.

There is a spacious attic with a door that opens to the outside. All the windows in the house are made of glass, and the curtains and shades are original to the house. The interior of the house is accessed by two large panels that form the front of the house. When the panels are closed it is impossible to see the divide between them.

The interior of the panels is an extension of the rooms, using the same wallpaper.The wallpaper in each room is original.
( The wallpaper in each room is original.)
A doll can stand on the little shelf that is incorporated into the panel.

The halls and the outer panels were electrified many years ago, and recently my husband electrified all of the other rooms and installed lights in the ceilings. The lights add greatly to the drama of the house.

Let us begin with the first floor

On the left, the kitchen has a very interesting stove and icebox (with “real ice” in the upper compartment) a sink with dishes drying on it, a sack of flour and a busy cook. In the middle of the kitchen is an antique Biedermeier marble-topped table covered with different foods: a roasted turkey, two plates with lamb chops on them, a pot-au-feu, a cutting board with potatoes that are being peeled, and a cherry pie. A large basket full of vegetables sits on the floor next to the table.

Let us cross the entrance hall witch has a large mirrored hall piece with receptacles for walking sticks and umbrellas.

Behind it is the elevator.

In the lower right corner is the dining room with a fireplace, a china cupboard, and two tables laden with food for breakfast.

On the larger table there is a large fruit arrangement, soft-boiled eggs, croissants, and jams and jellies, and even a delicious chocolate cake! On another table, there is an assortment of fruits, some croissants, some jams and jellies, some cooked eggs, etc.

Thus let us take the elevator. It runs from the top to the bottom of the house (excluding the attic) and is run by a crank at the right side of the house.

The room on the left of the second floor is a music and breakfast room. An antique victoria is on a table to the right of the room. There is a working grandfather clock on the back wall. The wallpaper is particularly detailed and beautiful around the upper border. There is a child dressed as a pierrot character–maybe ready to go to a birthday party after breakfast

Some of the residents of the house are enjoying a breakfast of croissants, soft-boiled eggs, and tea. .

There is in the second floor hall an old-fashioned telephone on the table.

On the right there is a room that serves both as a sewing room and a bedroom. The ironing board has a fabric on it with a pattern pinned to it, and there is a measuring tape on the board, tiny pins and a needle and a spool of red thread. There is an ornate little iron sitting on a stand. The all-bisque antique baby is lying in a bronze bed with a little quilt over him. (There are real springs underneath the mattress.) The bed was made by the well-known German firm, Märklin.

An all-bisque antique baby is lying in a bronze bed (with his bear and his cat ? )

On the third floor the room at the upper left is a bedroom and sewing room....

.... A treadle sewing machine is on the left and a little sewing box sits next to it.

On the right, the bathroom has curious wooden bathroom fixtures original to this house. (The bathtub is so narrow that no one–not even a dollhouse doll–could stretch out in it.)

This house is a masterpiece of the Moritz Gottschalk firm. If you look at the house with its panels open, in a dark room, and with all the lights on, the child within you comes to life, and you can see something completely magical.
Note : Most of the accessories in this house were made by the German firm of Reutters Porzellan.

Lynda CHRISTIAN