The very last Keystone designed dollhouse

 

This dollhouse was produced by The South Bend Toy Company during the early 1970s, dating by the interior modern wallpaper designs and colors. It is almost an exact copy of the last dollhouse Keystone Wood Toys made in 1955. 

           

Plastic insert windows are on one side of the house with graphic windows on the opposite side.

This ad appeared in Keystone Wood Toys 1955 catalog. Keystone Manufacturing Co of Boston, Massachusetts, started production of motion picture projectors in 1919. By the late 1920s they were producing Masonite and wood toys. They produced dollhouses made of Masonite from 1935 through 1955. In 1958 The South Bend Toy Company, of South Bend, Indiana, acquired the Keystone Wood Toy brand name. Playschool eventually acquired South Bend toys. 

This dollhouse came to me new in the box several years ago. It measures 21½" tall, 24½" wide and 16½" deep. The depth of the house makes it perfect for using the larger German Bodo Hennig dollhouse furniture. 

 

I added an extra wall divider to make room for both a nursery and bath. Odd pieces found on Ebay from Keystone houses often come in handy. The wall divider between the nursery and bath is from an original 1955 edition of this 1970s dollhouse. I added wallpaper to each side of the divider to cover the original 1950s era wallpaper.

This dollhouse is filled with Bodo Hennig furniture in 1:10 scale, and is the perfect size for this house.

The dining room was not large enough for the hutch, so the back of it provides a wall for the lady of the house to hang her utensil and spice racks. 

 Bedroom space is rather limited, but just large enough for this set.

The white changing table is not identified as Bodo Hennig, but is marked Made in Germany.

Pretty in yellow, this bath set is just the right size for smaller hands to handle.

Hmmn, maybe I should have put dishes in the hutch instead of books.

The three necessary appliances for the kitchen, plus a broom closet.

I added wallpaper to the back of the dining room hutch.

The sofas and chair set were sold as Bodo Henning but I haven't been able to verify authenticity. The sofa/chair/ottoman combo on the right is from a different production period. There is a slight difference in the fabric, the pieces are filled with polyester fiber and have metal feet. The sofa on the left is filled with rubber foam and is without feet. 

The TV, fireplace and end tables are Bodo Henning products.

All drawers open on the chest and dresser.

The three room dividers.

I like the fancy wooden pulls on the nursery chest.

The four piece bath suite is a lovely shade of yellow.

I have the 1955 edition of this dollhouse and hope to post about it soon. It is currently in line to be refurbished. 

Looking for this 1935 Keystone of Boston Dollhouse

This dollhouse  is one of the first dollhouses produced by Keystone of Boston in 1935. K's mom had a dollhouse just like this when she was a child, but it was lost about 30 years ago. Mom recently turned 80, and K would like to gift her mom with a duplicate of her childhood dollhouse. If you have a dollhouse like this, and would like to help K bring back a cherished memory of her mom's childhood, please contact me at florinebettge@comcast.net. 

Would you like to have a lovely Keystone dollhouse for Christmas?

 

This lovely Keystone of Boston dollhouse is looking for a new home....just in time for Christmas! The owner of this dollhouse would like for this little house to bring joy to a new owner. 

This house was produced sometime between 1942 to 1947. Several models were available during that period with red or blue roofs, different style porticos and varied graphics. This particular model has delicate vines with blue flowers around the portico, which makes it a very attractive little house.

The graphics continue around both sides of the house.

This picture shows one of the few flaws on this little house....the small break on the corner, which is quite common on Keystone houses. 

The house has four rooms to decorate....living room, kitchen, two bedrooms or a bedroom and bath. 

All the windows are intact, however, the house is missing the front door.  Reproduction parts for Keystone houses can be found at a very reasonable price at Dollhouse Wonders, an Etsy site managed by JoAnn Bellanger. The chimney is a replacement but looks very nice in red! JoAnn also makes replacement chimneys if you are interested. 

Wouldn't you love to add this lovely little Keystone to your dollhouse collection....or start a collection with this one! 

Contact Edith Gilder at edithgilder@charter.net for more information. 

A mail order bride for Harry, Part 3

We first met Harry Castleton in 2011 when he asked me to find a nice companion for him.  A mail order bride for Harry tells that story. Harry next decided he needed a set of wheels so he and his new bride wouldn't have to ride the bus or metro rail.  You can read about his excursion to Smitty's Used Cars at Harry buys a used car. 

Harry needed some repairs made to his home before his bride arrived, so he made arrangements with the dollhouse lady to do that. Alas, it has taken the dollhouse lady over 3 years to make the repairs. But now Sophie has arrived and we can continue with the story!

Back from their honeymoon, Harry helps Sophie out of their car... 

and carries her across the threshold. 
"Whoops! I didn't mean to bump your head Sophie!"

Showing Sophie around their home, Harry first shows her his most prized possession...

musicians on barrels...that he inherited from his father. 
Actually he didn't inherit them. 
Each of his 4 brothers also wanted them, so they played a game of
 mumblety-peg to see who would claim them. 

Harry won and was no worse for wear.  

Next he shows Sophie his mother's silver tea service.

He and his brothers drew straws to see who would claim it.

This time drawing the short straw was lucky for Harry!

 

"How do you like our nice large kitchen, Sophie?" asks Harry. 

"I bet you will be making us some great meals!"

"Of course I will, Harry. Will you teach me how to cook?"

"Hmmn, twin beds," Sophie  thinks to herself. "Harry is a wise man."

"Beryl, my sister-in-law, suggested you might like your own desk
 for correspondence," says Harry.

"And I picked out this vanity just for you, to help you keep yourself beautiful."
"Hmmn, not always a wise man," thinks Sophie.

 

"We have a nice supply of linens," Harry says, 

"and a bath large enough for two!"

"I think not," thinks Sophie.

That very evening Harry introduces Sophie to his family....four brothers!
Hollis and Beryl were the first to arrive,  

followed by Hugh and Lesley.

 

Hedley introduces himself and his wife Noreen to Sophie.

"Oh, poor Sophie!" laments Noreen.
 "I bet you didn't expect to see something like this on the mantel."

"Wonder where that youngster Huntley is," asks Hollis as the doorbell rings.
 "He's always the last to show up. Wonder if he is bringing a date?"

"Hello, guys! This is one of my students, Fern," says Huntley.

As the evening ends and Huntley and Fern are the last to leave,
we notice the mantel is bare 

and Huntley is carrying a familiar object in his arms.

Oh, Sophie, no you didn't!!

"I thought my mom's favorite figurines would look nice on the mantel," 

says Sophie.  "I hope you don't mind."

Harry and Sophie live in a Keystone of Boston southern mansion #1255 

that appeared in the Keystone catalog of 1942-43.

This was one of their "top of the line" 4 room models...

with stairs, fireplace transformer for interior lighting, 

plywood floors, painted carpets, canopy shades on windows, 

built in kitchen cabinets and lovely stenciled wallpaper.  

Several models of this particular design were produced.

This shows the 6 room model with the stairs in the lower middle room....

and no painted rugs or fancy wallpaper.

And a delightful picture of a happy little girl 

who received this dollhouse for Christmas...

 and a smaller version of the same model, 

with 4 rooms, was also produced.

I have furnished this house with the smaller dollhouse furniture made by Menasha Woodenware Corporation of Menasha, Wisconsin. The company, founded in 1849, originally made barrels, pails and other utilitarian wood products and only made dollhouse furniture for several years during the 1930s to see them through the great depression.

The furniture was made in 2 different sizes...a traditional 1":1' scale and a slightly larger size that could be considered 1.5":1' scale.  The larger furniture was marketed under the Tyke Toys trade name. Examples of the smaller Menasha furniture can be found on pages 135-36 of Antique and Collectible Dollhouses and their Furnishing by Dian Zillner and Patty Cooper. There is an excellent article on the Menasha Tyke Toys furniture in Zillner's International Dollhouses and Accessories 1880 to 1980 on pages 79-80.

The Menasha Woodenware bedroom....
the folding screen and lamps are not Menasha products.

The bath made by Menasha in the smaller series.
My friend George has a Menasha bathtub with a "tile" surround 

similar to the one made by Strombecker circa 1950.

The dining table has 2 centered legs for support....just like designs of real furniture in the early 1930s. Strombecker also used that design in their furniture of the same period.

Tall legs and with a modern vibe, the chair and sofa were flocked.

The hutch is probably my favorite piece of Menasha furniture.

I don't have a refrigerator, but George does

....so one was definitely made!

The piano and bench.

Sophie couldn't find room for it in her new home..

so maybe they will be moving soon?

The unique design of the turned legs helps to identify Menasha furniture.

The kitchen cabinet was a built-in provided by Keystone.

If you have read many of my posts,

you have probably realized that Caho/Caco dolls are my favorite. 

Beryl, in navy, is from the early 1930s; 
Sophie, Lesley and Noreen are from the period right after World War II; 
and Fern, with plastic hands and feet, is from 1970.
The most complete information on Caco dolls can be found
on the diePuppenstubensammlerin website.

 Ah, the Castleton brothers!

Harry, Hugh, Hedley, Huntley and Hollis are Caho dolls from the late 1930s.

And here ends my story of the mail order bride.

But....there are 4 more brothers who live in the Village....

UPDATE!!

After I posted this silly story, guess what I found on Ebay....

a Menasha bathtub with tile surround! 

And Patty reminded me that I had a Menasha scale! 

Now I am looking for a fridge...