Summary

Alternative Name(s): Dolls House, Dolls' House, Dollhouse

Doll's house, three-storied with detachable front, built around 1920 by Neil McArthur for his much younger half-sister Elizabeth (Beth) Twycross. Beth was born in 1917. Neil made the doll's house out of found materials including cigar boxes; he also made many of the furnishings in the doll's house. Some of the contents of the doll's house may date back to the 1860s, played with by ancestor Charlotte Twycross; most date to either the 1920s or the 1940s-50s. In the early 1950s the donor was given the spruced-up doll's house as a birthday present by her parents. Her father Vic Butler made additional furniture and adding power for lights in the rooms, while her mother Beth made furnishings such as a cushion and chaise longue cover made from old curtain material, and re-dressed some of the dolls.

In later years the donor's own daughter later added items, although she wasn't allowed to play with the doll's house and contents due to their fragility.

Physical Description

Wooden doll's house, off-white with red roof, with detachable front wall (facade) and solid back. Front wall includes a central front door with curtained window on either side, and a pair of upper windows, also curtained, under a shallow balcony with three blue posts. Inside the house are three levels (rather than the two levels suggested by the facade). On the top floor is a bedroom (left) and bathroom (right); the central floor is a full-length loungeroom; and the ground floor is a meals room (left) and kitchen (right). The house does not have stairs. The bedroom and the loungeroom are carpeted; the other rooms have linoleum floors. All rooms except the bathroom are wallpapered; the bedroom and the loungeroom have wallpapered ceilings as well. The bathroom has masonite walls and ceiling. The loungeroom has a central fireplace with inbuilt hearth and mantle, with a corresponding chimney on the roof centre. All rooms have electric lights in their ceilings, with removable lampshades.

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