Plattenbau - Hochhaus

"Plattenbau - Hochhaus" 1966, Moritz Gottschalk, VERO

Okay, deja vu. I'm guessing many of you have already seen this VERO house over on Puppenhaus Museum and other places, but I was cleaning up my old computer and found some photos that I hadn't posted (more to come). Unfortunately, I didn't keep track of where I found these photos. Does anyone recall what website these two photos are from (Modern MC)? The appear to be the same house that is in the newspaper article at the end of the page at Puppenhaus Museum.

Anyway, I've hung on to these photos, as one day I'd like to build something similar, but for now that "to build" list just keeps growing and growing and ... I swear one day I will finish building a new house. Seriously. :)

Vintage Mini-Modern House BACK on ebay

Apparently the price was not right. Looks like there were no takers at the $850 starting price so they dropped the opening bid to $499. Still only local pick up in NY. Any takers?

For more info on the house check out my previous post or "My Vintage Dollhouses and Other Treasures" blog post.

(image from ebay listing)

Vintage Mini-Modern Dollhouse on eBay

Sigh, another reason I wish I lived in NY and had more disposable income. This handcrafted 1:12 scale, 4 foot x 4 foot base, approximately 2 feet high is available for pick up only with a starting bid of $850 on ebay.

(Thanks for the info TSS!) The dollhouse plans were designed by architect Ira Grandberg in 1976. The eBay listing does not credit the builder or when it was built, but it looks like it was built using Ira's plans. I like the wallpaper, could loose some of the flooring, but this house is pretty incredible. I'm not sure I'd call it the "The Ultimate Vintage Mini-Modern Dollhouse" but they did, and here are the details from the ebay listing.

A dollhouse of this design (not this house, but the original) was built in 1976 and presented to the museum of the city of new york and is part of their famous dollhouse collection.

This house features:
Clean lines and varied spaces waiting to be furnished
All the roof pieces and second-story bedroom section lift off
Herringbone design real brick pathway to front door
Garage has small slate threshold
Deck
Pergola with potting bench
Entrance hall and stairs
Gallery / solarium with skylight
Living room
Dining room
Powder room
Pantry / bar
Kitchen with skylight
Master bedroom
Nursery
Bathroom on second story with small hallway
Passageway from garage to kitchen has skylight
Textured grass base landscaped with 2 trees
Windows of various sizes some glazed some not
Wallpapered and finished flooring throughout

Again, it's local pickup only in Brooklyn, New York. Rats!

(all images from bigbus390's ebay listing)

Melissa Johnson's split level dollhouse

Melissa sent me these great pics of a split level custom dollhouse she renovated that she found on Craigslist for $25 in DC.

She was told it was bought for a young couples child from a neighbor and they didn't have any other information on it. It shares some similarities with Lundby and Brio (maybe inspired by those) but it is just slightly smaller than 1/12 scale. If anyone has seen another one of these or might now any information on the builder, we'd love to know more.
A great idea that Melissa has done, is to always ask and document on the bottom of her dollhouses any information, her name and date when she finished her restoration. I will definitely be doing this for my houses as well.

The living room cork floor is made out of inch squares that Melissa hand cut. I think it looks great, but wow, that's a lot of work! The bed and desk are custom pieces she made as well as the kitchen cabinets, all slightly smaller than 1/12th scale also. Melissa has other dollhouses she has restored that I hope to blog on later.
Thanks so much for sharing Melissa, I look forward to seeing more of your work.


(all images from Melissa Johnson)

Many thanks to The Shopping Sherpa, Rebecca and Florine for your great dollhouse sleuthing. Below are photos and details from their comments.

Update 1
The Shopping Sherpa commented that Melissa's house looked like a Triang DH2 or DHK3 from 1962, check out the similarities on her flickr site, the windows and carport seem to be the only difference www.flickr.com/photos/49333775@N00/2898271160/. From the catalogue:
"MODEL HOME" DOLLS' HOUSE
DH2 - Contemporary House as illustrated, with five electrical lights and switchboard. 42" long, 12" deep, 19" high.
DHK3 - Complete kit of parts to build above house, except electric fittings available as separate set. Main parts already cut and grooved, requires only simple hand tools, paint and glue to complete.

Update 2
Rebecca sent these links to the Barton Model Home, available from about 1956 to 1976. They were sold mostly as kits, to make up at home, although some were sold made up.

(images from Rebecca are on dollshousespastandpresent.webs.com and same site here and here)

Update 3
Florine added another idea... McCall's Do-It-Yourself dollhouse pattern, copyright 1955. She found this pattern on eBay and added scans to her flick site at http://www.flickr.com/photos/fnbettge/sets/72157623827135110/. From the pattern:
A SPLIT-LEVEL Dollhouse like this will make any little girl starry-eyed on Christmas morning. The pattern includes decoration and finishing ideas and complete directions for making house from plywood. 51" long, 11 1/2" deep, 18 1/2" high.



Update 4
OMG. I had a bit of deja vu when Melissa first sent me these pictures, but seeing Florine's pattern triggered where I'd seen this before. Modern MC blogged about this ¾ inch scale “Betsy McCall Dollhouse No. 150W” back in September 2007. Visit her post for more pictures minimodern.blogspot.com/2007/09/some-modern-dollhouse-plans.html.