Keystone of Boston dollhouse, circa 1935

 

This is an older model Keystone of Boston dollhouse,

most likely from their initial dollhouse production

 year of 1935. It is a two storied house with four rooms.

Marta and Bernhard Schmidt live in this little house.

The back roof is attached to the front roof 
with fabric tape. The roof flips up 

to make the top floor available for playing.

Now this little house is ready for play.

This house is in fairly good shape for its 90 years. 

All the  window inserts are still with the house.

The kitchen has room for appliances and a large table with four chairs. 

Not sure what the hole in the center wall is for. 

There is a similar sized hole in the floor of the bedroom.

The bathroom is found on the second floor. 

I almost typed upstairs, but there are no stairs

 so that wouldn't be quite right.

The bedroom is large with room for twin beds, a night table, a dresser, 

a dressing table and chair, and a comfy chair in the corner.

Being somewhat crafty, I covered the hole in the bedroom floor with a carpet.

Marta is standing in the kitchen. 

I wonder if she is thinking about making supper,

or telling Bernhard they are going out for dinner.

Bernard is looking in the bathroom mirror

 wondering if he needs a shave, 

before Marta tells him they are going out to dinner.

 

And here are Marta and Bernhard Schmidt on their way to dinner. Good thinking Bernhard! 

The sofa, chair and end tables are part of Nancy Forbes #070 Living Room. The ottoman is from the Donna Lee #020 Living Room. The coffee table and end table are from Donna Lee's #022 Bed Room. This information was found in Patty Cooper's Nancy Forbes and Donna Lee Dollhouse Furniture 1940s found on Blurb.com.  The fireplace is unknown, although it closely resembles the fireplace listed in the 1928 Schoenhut catalog. 

The grandfather clock is probably of German origin. 

The sink and stove are Strombecker; the fridge is either a German or Japanese import. 

The maker of the table and chairs is unknown.

The table, with different decorative accents, came with the four chairs.

Strombecker lamps and clock and a Queen Anne lounge chair for the bedroom. 

The bedroom set is most likely a Japanese import 

that has been modeled after a 1931 Schoenhut set. 

Here is a comparison of the pieces with the Schoenhut furniture on the right side 

and the imported furniture on the left.

           

The sink, commode, stool and scales are Strombecker. 

The tub is hand crafted and I think rather unique.

The table and chairs and the bedroom set came from the same Ebay seller. 

I painted the sofa and chair to carry on the happy theme of this little house. 

Marta and Bernhard Schmidt are 4½ " tall bisque dolls imported from Japan.

Another Keystone of Boston dollhouse

I haven't discovered the production date for this small 4 room Keystone dollhouse, but most likely it is from the 1937-38 period. Keystone catalogs that have been found do not list/show all the models that were produced. 

An excellent source for Keystone catalogs is found on Derrick Clow's Collecting Keystone blog.

This example from the 1938-39 Keystone catalog, is the same basic dollhouse as mine, but with metal shutters and swing out windows. Keystone catalogs for the years 1936-37 haven't been located; evidently Keystone transitioned from the painted shutters/plastic windows to the metal shutters/swing out windows at that time. 

This house is decorated in German furniture along with American Kage, Tiny Toy and Converse, plus other unknown brands.

This is the home of Dieter and Leisel Schulz and their daughters Ella and Leni.

 

This bedroom set (not including the chair on the right and the baby crib) was made in Germany. The picture below is from Dian Zillner's International Dollhouses & Accessories 1880s-1980s.

The description with the picture reads "German ¾" to 1 foot scale bedroom furniture that includes chairs made exactly like the Red Stain dining room chairs of the same size. Several of the pieces in this set are stamped Germany." My set has been repainted with touches of gold paint added.

 

The kitchen is a mixed lot with a pantry marked Germany, a Converse sink with new faucet, an unknown table and chairs and a stove and fridge from Germany....

 as shown in this picture from Dian Zillner's Antique & Collectible Dollhouses and Their Furnishings.

 

Leni's room has a Kage dressing table, a Tynietoy chair, a sweet little bed possibly homecrafted, a video viewer of Meersburg Germany for a dollhouse and a wardrobe circa 1920;

The couch and chairs are very similar to others I found in Zillner books circa 1900 Germany, the radio is marked Germany, the library table and lamp are 1928 Schoenhut.  Several years ago I stumbled across unfinished Schoenhut lamps on Ebay. I painted this shade pink to bring out the pink flowers in the circular rug. When checking the date for the lamp and library table in Patty Cooper's Schoenhut Dollhouse Furniture 1928-1934,  I discovered it was produced with a pink shade! 

Little Ella is tucked away for the night, 

Leisel is trying to decide if it would be wise to make a pot of coffee this late in the evening.

Leni is checking to see if she has a reflection in her mirror since her friend Klaus told her vampires don't have one.

 Dieter is listening closely to the news on the radio.

Close up pictures of the furniture follow....just because I always do that when I post on this blog.  

The living room furniture arrived with price tags. Evidently they were in an antique shop at one time. I found them on Ebay and I didn't, wouldn't, couldn't pay that for them....but I am glad they came to live in my little Keystone house.

A 1934 Schoenhut Dollhouse

 

This dollhouse was produced  in 1934, the last year of production for the A. Schoenhut Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It has suffered some water damage, is missing the chimney, and was missing the door and two windows when it arrived. I will get around to making a chimney one day. I made the door....and then installed it the wrong way, that's why the door knob is on the right side. I "borrowed" two windows from the side of another small Schoenhut, because in my Dollhouse Village, having front windows is more important than having side windows!

This illustration is from a 1934 dealer's catalogue and appears in a soft cover book Dollhouses and Dollhouse Furniture (Manufactured by A. Schoenhut Company Philadelphia, Pa. 1917-1934) compiled by Margaret Whitton. Notice that it came with lights in each room and a removable back cover. This illustration shows the extension on the right side, while the extension on my house is on the left.

This illustration of the entire page might explain why. Notice that all of the houses are facing left. It is possible that the graphic designer flipped the image to create a more visually pleasing composition.

A cute little family has moved in to "No.208E". I might know their names by the end of this post.

The house has 5 rooms....two bedrooms, a kitchen, dining room and living room. No bathroom, and no outhouse in sight. 

The living room is furnished in German Red-stain furniture. The seating pieces and the clock can be found in International Dollhouses and Accessories by Zillner and Cooper, page 214. This book, published in1998, indicates the maker of German Red-stain furniture was unknown at that time. Twenty-six years later we are still trying to discover that information. 

The lamp table is Donna Lee  from her Deluxe Bedroom set no. 302. 

The lamp base is incised Germany; it came without the celluloid shade. I fashioned one of textured paper, not the same as the original but it works for me.

The dining room has a Schoenhut dining room table set and buffet from their 1931 production line. 

The maker of the hutch is unknown, possibly a German or Japanese import.

The kitchen is furnished in Schoenhut with a Kage fridge. 

The stove, sink, table and chairs are Schoenhut from 1932. The fridge is Kage from the late 1940s. 

I found this wonderful handmade crazy-quilt on Ebay and thought it was just perfect for the Kage bed. 

The bedside table and dresser are Nancy Forbes with a Strombecker clock to wake dad in case he has a job. A former owner added the knobs on the dresser. I added the mirror, but it should have a border around it. Just another error I need to correct because I didn't research. The chair is not marked as to maker. 

The children share a room, each having their own little corner. I see a girly toy but no boys toys. Hmmn, girls rule? Yea!

A Kage chest holds a Strombecker lamp. The small chair  part of the Tiny Suite made by The Spartan Company in the late 1940s. The blue bed may be from Miniaform, made when they were moving away from making the more expensive Art Deco furniture with wire legs. The brown bed is early UK Barton.

My little family has introduced themselves! Gervais and Colette Perreault and their children Laurent and Lisette. They are new immigrants from France....because of the way they are dressed, possibly time travelers?