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Large Mystery Dolls' House

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America, ca. 1895, this massive American dollhouse comes with a distinguished provenance, having been well documented by its most famous owner, the late Flora Gill Jacobs, and seen by thousands of visitors to the Washington Dolls' House and Toy Museum before its closure in 2004. The house was originally given to Miss Annie Pinckney Watt (born 1889) whose family resided on New York's Fifth Avenue, so it is naturally assumed to have been purchased from the neighboring F.A.O. Schwarz toy store around the turn of the century. The house features a unique façade with old exterior repaint believed to have been applied by Miss Watt's descendants in the early 20th century, and later touch-up paint applied at the direction of Mrs. Jacobs. The imposing façade opens in four hinged sections in front with additional hinged access to the two attic rooms, and features architectural door and window moldings with handsomely detailed moldings bordering each panel – these moldings differ from the rustication found on most Mystery houses and make this example unique. The farmhouse-style doors are also unusual with glazed upper panels. The gambrel roofline of the main section features two gables and a large dormer window. The base of the house retains original latticework around the foundation and two sets of steps. Inside, the house is comprised of six very spacious principal rooms, two formal hallways with a staircase featuring elaborately turned balusters, and two additional finished rooms in the attic. The kitchen wing with its slightly smaller rooms features additional steps in the upstairs bathroom. An attractive and unusual feature of this house are the large windows located in the rear wall of the main portion of the house, a feature only found in the largest Mystery houses. The elegant original window treatments remain, with some windows outfitted with parchment window shades beneath the curtains. Appropriate antique wallpapers with especially nice borders were applied at Mrs. Jacobs' direction, and she also added the removable carpets covering the painted and varnished floors. The attic wallpapers are believed to be original to the house. Doors and trimwork are original with minor alterations. This remarkable house is featured on pages 101-104 of Mrs. Jacobs' last book, The Small World of Antique Dollhouses published in 2005. 47" H, 55" W, 24" D. Very Good (and as noted)

Very Good (and as noted)

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