Toy & Miniature Museum of Kansas City - Part 1 - Dollhouses

The family and I took a trip to Kansas City this past weekend and one of the places we visited was the Toy & Miniature Museum of Kansas City.  Last year the museum celebrated 30 years.  I took over 200 photos so I will just share some of the highlights in several posts.  I apologize in advance for the quality of the photos.  Everything was behind plexiglass or glass and I had to turn off the flash and the lighting wasn't all that great. 

The museum is located inside a historic mansion on the campus of the University of Missouri at Kansas City (UMKC).  Mary Harris Francis and Barbara Marshall were both collectors who were encouraged by friends and family to merge their private collections and create a museum.  Francis specialized in dollhouses while Marshall enjoyed the fine scale miniatures.  The museum building is built around what was once a private home known as the "Tureman Mansion".  Additional exhibit space has been added over the years to house the huge collection.  The museum will close at the end of this year to undergo renovations and expansion and will re-open as the National Toy and Miniature Museum.
This post will include a few of the over 100 Dollhouses.

I found this picture online with the house opened up

I like the clever way they displayed the front of the house above

I really liked this realistic Victorian house - note the art glass window built into the chimney

Quite a few items from Germany

This one was labeled 6 Story Hotel or Apartment 1903

These were some detailed balsa wood models at different scales

one of my favorites was this Tynietoy House from the 1920's

Smithsonian Miniature finds

I had the opportunity to travel to Washington DC.  The Smithsonian was on my list of things to do.  I was surprised to find quite a few dollhouses scattered around in the National Museum of American History.

This first dollhouse belonged to the children of President Grover Cleveland and was made by the White House Gardener in 1896.  It was part of a display of the toys of the White House Children.

This green roofed dollhouse belonged to Amy Carter, daughter of former President Jimmy Carter.  It dates from 1979.  The mailbox had the address "1600 Pennsylvania Avenue" painted on it.

This charming little bungalow was with a display of toys from the 1920's.  I have found this house in Diane Zillner's Book Antique Dollhouses and their Furnishings.  It states that the roof flips up and that that it was probably made in Germany.  The railing on the porch and the textured shingles are made from pressed cardboard.

 I was surprised to come across this display.  I had not heard of Faith Bradford or her dollhouse - but it was amazing.  It had everything from Tynietoy to homemade and antique pieces. The display also has a scrapbook that the she kept on the collection.

The collection was donated to the Smithsonian in 1951.

Here is a picture I found online of Faith Showing the house back in 1966.  It was curteousy of the Washington Star.

There is a good website here that has details about each of the rooms:
http://americanhistory.si.edu/exhibitions/small_exhibition.cfm?key=1267&exkey=376&pagekey=812

The Crescent Moon Cottage

I won this antique, hand made house in an auction few years ago. It is the current residence for my Tynietoy collection. I believe it was built in the 1920's.  It combines a little craftsman style, with a bungalow style roof and a few other architectural elements that make this old house pretty cool.  Each room is fitted with a ceiling mounted electric bulb and still has the ceramic insulators and fabric wrapped wiring.  As of now, its called the Crescent Moon Cottage, until I come up with something better.

The front of the house has real glass windows with painted mullions and moon cut-outs in the hunter green shutters.  The roof is covered with individual painted wood shingles and the base of the house is carved wood made to look like large pieces of cut stone.   The door knob on the front door is actually part of a mechanism that releases a lock to open up the front of the house like a bi-fold door.

The one story section of the house was added on at some point and houses a small kitchen.

Note also the window boxes and carved decorative brackets at the front porch and roof.

The rear of the house has windows symmetrically placed on each side of a large carved wooden chimney, made to look like cut stone or large bricks.  The chimney also serves as a support when the front portion of the roof is opened to reveal the attic.  At some point, all of the windows on the rear were filled in with wood panels - I think this was to allow for more wall space inside the house.

One end of the house has the first floor bay window with the same wood shingles.  Note also one of two diamond shaped windows on the attic room.

The attic also has a bungalow shed style dormer window.

A detail of the "stone" base that turns into the front steps.

The front door leads directly into the living room.  Currently the living room has kind of mohair type fabric carpet and the original curtains and original fireplace.  the rough solid wood walls are painted a glossy creamy yellow.  An arch leads into the dining room.

The dining room has the same carpet and paint on the walls.  note the wood "plug" where the window was before the kitchen was added on.

The small kitchen has two different sized windows to allow for a sink with a view and third that was plugged by the previous owner behind the arcade hoosier cabinet.

There are two large bedrooms upstairs one painted pink and one painted blue.

Another archway divides the two bedrooms upstairs and the house still has it original curtains.  The bed, dresser and desk in this room are not Tynietoy but from the same period.

The attic is one large space that I may divide into a couple of rooms, including a bathroom.

I have been looking at some fabrics to use as wall coverings. 

A Great Estate Sale Find

Front View

I happened upon an antique dollhouse today at an estate sale.  The house is made from large pieces of wood and nailed together.  The craftsmanship is great.  It measures about 30" high and each of the rooms are about 12" X 12" X12"

Chimney View

The paint needs some touch-up around the wood chimney and the windows have pieces of glass that are held in with tiny nails.  I may put some sort of wood grid over them

Rear View

 The back of the house is just plain- yet finished off nicely.  The roof and chimney paint have a nice crackled finish.

Second Floor

I love the linoleum floors.  I am going to have to do some research and figure out how old it actually is.  I am guessing from the 30's or 40's.