A 1934 Schoenhut dollhouse with side yard

 

This dollhouse was manufactured by the A. Schoenhut Company in Philadelphia, PA during 1934, their last year of producing dollhouses. 

The house was  listed in their 1934 catalog, and pictured in a book compiled by Margaret Whitton, Dollhouses and Dollhouse Furniture  1917-1934.

This is the dollhouse when it came to live with me, dirty and missing the long edge of the fence.  Darn, it had more character when it was dirty. I had planned to take a picture of the refurbished house in front of the ferns in my courtyard again....however,  although protected, the ferns  bit the dust in the Texas freeze of 2021.

Because the exterior of the house has a stucco finish, I was not able to clean it easily and ended up painting it an off white. I renewed the roof with a coat of Fiebing's dark red leather dye, covering 5-6 tiles at a time then buffing off to a glossy finish.

My brother made a wonderful replica of the original fence for me.  

He may have felt a bit guilty after his grandpup, Winston, visited me 

and decided the original fence was a very nice chew.  

Lucky sister, yes?

Meet the Caco doll family that lives in this little house.....

Horace and Glenda Crenshaw,

 their children Madelyn, Marguerite and little Lionel,

and their pups, Snowball and Fred.

 The house is furnished with Schoenhut furniture, 

a combination of their productions of 1931-34.

Starting with the living room, we find Horace gazing into space while pretending to read a book. 

Caco dolls are good at gazing into space.

Has someone been playing Ragtime on this piano?

Someone needs to give Mrs. Crenshaw 

a bottle of Old English scratch cover.

Still gazing....

Over the sofa is a picture the Crenshaws purchased in Germany 

on their last vacation away from the children.

Crossing the stairwell into the dining room....

we find a  picture of the three Crenshaw kids.

Entering the dining room, with countryside mural, 

we find heirlooms gifted to Mrs. Crenshaw  from her parents.

A lace panel from Grams hangs in front of the window above the

pewter compote and peacock statues, also from Grams.

The Scotch and Bourbon decanters are a gift from Grandad. 

Grams made him give up spirits.

Mrs. Crenshaw keeps her treasured  Depression pitcher 

and glasses on the trolley in the dining room. 

The children haven't managed to break it....yet.

The kitchen, in shades of blue, has the necessary appliances....

....a hutch that also serves as a pantry, 

a stove with four burners and oven, 

and a table with 2 chairs. Evidently the children

do not dine with the parents.

Also an electric refrigerator and a sink with drainboard.

Mrs. Crenshaw is lucky to have modern appliances 

to make her household chores easier.

Ah, the convenience of an indoor bathroom.....

with both a tub....

and a shower.

 Modern living at its' 1934 best!

The kids share the second bedroom in this large house...

Madelyn and Marguerite have matching twin beds...

while little Lionel's crib in placed on the opposite wall. 

Snowball likes hanging out it the kid's bedroom.

In the upper stairwell ...

we find more pictures of....guess who!

Glenda and Horace's room is across the stairwell 

from the children's room.

With a chaise and dresser....

and twin beds for Glenda and Horace.

There was a picture on the wall above the beds....

all I see now is a spot of "tacky wax" that didn't do its' job.

Because she has modern appliances and indoor plumbing, 

Glenda is able to spend a lot of time on her chaise reading large books.

The furniture in this house was made by Schoenhut during their 1931-34 production years. 

The information found here comes from a Patty Cooper book,   

Schoenhut Dollhouse Furniture 1928-1934.

The sofa and chair were first introduced in 1931 in maroon, with the set in blue in 1932. 

The piano was produced in 1930 and was included

 with the living room set in their Apartment House Rooms.

The library table was part of the 1931 living room set, 

while the floor lamp was introduced in 1932. 

The maker of the small lamp on the piano is not currently known. 

The dining room table and chair set was first produced in 1931.

The buffet and server were redesigned for 1932 production 

with a scalloped rail beneath the non-opening drawers.

The tea cart first appeared in 1932.

The kitchen refrigerator, sink, stove and hutch were new designs in 1931 and were originally green. The table and chair set is from 1933, and the stool is Strombecker.  

Schoenhut produced this charming bedroom set in 1934. 

It included a scalloped design on the head and foot boards 

with a matching design on the metal mirror attached to the chest. 

No bolsters were attached to the beds. 

The chaise longue was a new design for Schoenhut, 

while the lamps first appeared in 1931.

In 1931 Schoenhut produced this bedroom set in pink and in green. 

The beds and bolsters are covered with printed paper. 

Missing from my set is the mirrored vanity. 

The lamp is Strombecker, the baby crib Dol Toi.

This bathroom set was new to the line produced in 1931 

and available in green or white. This orchid set was available in 1932.

    

These ceiling lights are the original installed by 

Schoenhut to hold the electric bulbs to light the house. 

I painted, then inverted them, to resemble the ceiling lights 

found in homes of the 1930s.

The fixture in the bathroom was missing; 

this is a wooden bowl painted white.

More missing original fixtures led me to install "crystal" bottle caps in the stairwells. 

Refurbishing this wonderful dollhouse took up a lot of my down time during the ongoing  pandemic. Now,  on to the next one that has been sitting on my work table since November!

Schoenhut Neighbors

Emma and Granger Page are eager to meet

 their new neighbors  Ranya and Sanjay Chowdhury, 

who recently immigrated to the United States 

from his native country of India. 

Emma and Granger introduce themselves to Sanjay and Ranya
 and invite them to visit their home.

While Ranya admires the fresh flowers Emma just picked 

from her garden, and Sanjay and Granger discuss 

whatever it is men discuss when they get together....

...Emma brings freshly baked cookies from the kitchen. 

Ok, that's the story. Let's get on with learning 

about the Schoenhut dollhouses and the furniture.

These two houses are the smallest of my six Schoenhut dollhouses. I can blame this particular collection of houses on Carol Morehead for suggesting I get a Schoenhut dollhouse for my Schoenhut dollhouse furniture when I posted about it back in 2010. Both of these houses were made between 1931-1934, and are from the Schoenhut inexpensive line of heavy cardboard dollhouses with plastic windows, wooden floors and wooden support beams. 

This house, with the centered front door and four rooms,

 measures 17½” x 10½” x13½”. 
It has the original curtains that came with it. 

This house was originally electrified, but the equipment is no longer 

in working order. That will happen when you cut the electrical cord. 

The living room furniture - chairs, sofa and library table - are from set 6/1 of Schoenhut's 1931 line of dollhouse furniture. The fireplace was part of the Apartment House Rooms set 5/29F Living Room introduced in 1930. 

The radio, missing the top board, was part of the set 6/21 Living Roon 

introduced in 1933.French fèves decorate the mantle.  

Not sure how that Strombecker lamp was included...I don't drink during the day. 

I have only one chair matching this pale yellow set....

that certainly means that Granger must stand when having meals.

The kitchen set, 6/523, was a new design produced 

by Schoenhut in 1933. Schoenhut described it as "canary". 

The light fixture hangs low enough that Granger 

sometimes bangs his head on it in the middle of the night.

This is Set 154 Bathroom from the 1934 Schoenhut line.

Granger is trying to remember why he came to the bedroom. 

That happens often as one ages. Or drinks. 

The twin beds and bedside table are from set 6/5 Bedroom line produced in 1931, 

while the dresser is from set 6/5 Bedroom line produced in 1932.  
The paper used to resemble bed covers was missing and has been replaced.

The chair is a Kage product and all lamps are Strombecker.   

   

All the curtains came with the house. They were originally pleated, 

but then I laundered them and now they are not.

Granger and Emma Page are German Caco dolls from the 1950-60s.

This slightly smaller Schoenhut dollhouse measures 16” x 9½” x 13” 
with a front door situated to the side. It also contains four rooms. 

This is how it looked when I purchased it from Ebay. 

It is evident that it had paper attached...most likely in a brick design. 

It has taken me several years to decide how I wanted to restore it. 

I chose this paper from Itsy Bitsy Mini thinking it would go with 

the red roof and green shutters. Well it didn't. 

So I ended up painting the roof green. 
I also wallpapered the interior to cover the stains from many years of play. 

I found this picture of a Schoenhut house on Ebay several years ago.  
I think my house must have looked similar when new. 

Four rooms decorated as bedroom, bath, living room 

and kitchen dining room combo. 

I've furnished this house with Jaymar Specialty Company Happy Hour dollhouse furniture circa 1933. Jaymar was associated with the toymaker Louis Marx and Company. Five rooms of this furniture were produced in a ¾” to 1’ scale

 with an Art Deco look. 

 In red and black, simple lines and no moving parts....
included were sofa, chairs, end tables, lamps,

 library table, grandfather clock and a floor lamp. 

Orange and red and black...nice combo. 

I've combined the kitchen and dining room furniture and hung the curtain crooked.

The kitchen included a stove with top oven, a two-legged sink, a hutch, a kitchen table and one chair in a bright yellow with black trim. 

A carpet sweeper was included with the kitchen set.

The dining room came in green with black designs that included a dining room table made in the same style as the library table, a buffet, and four chairs. 
A pair of black candle holders with orange candles were part of the original set.

Notice that the Happy Hour furniture is the perfect size for this small house!

The bedroom furniture includes twin beds, a bed side table and a dresser. 

Also included, but not with my set, was an orange and green table lamp 

and a pair of orange and black candle sticks. 

All of the curtains in this house were printed on colored index paper. I included an extra dresser and dining room chair for the lady of the house to use as a vanity.

My bathroom collection contains the necessary pieces. 

Jaymar also included a bathroom stool and two towel bars. 

The commode lid lifts...so there is a moving part to the Jaymar collection!

Ranya and Sanjay  Chowdhury are Dol-Toi dolls in national dress made in United Kingdom in 1960. These dolls came to me as a pair but representing different countries. And now they have immigrated to America....and are accepted and welcomed in my Dollhouse Village!

All the information on the Schoenhut dollhouse furniture comes from 
Schoenhut Dollhouse Furniture 1928-1934 by Patty Cooper. 
It can be found on the Blurb.com website in softcover or instant PDF version. 

Information on the Jaymar Specialty Happy Hour furniture was found in 
Antique & Collectible Dollhouses and Their Furniture

by Dian Zillner and Patty Cooper.