Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Odessa's House

I recently won this wonderful dolls house on ebay. It was in a Sydney suburb not far from where my sister lives, so it was only a short drive to go and pick it up.



The house is made largely of plywood, and there are some small areas of damage. But what an amazing facade! As you can see, there are two entrances at ground level - the arched opening in the centre, with a seat on each side of the arch, and tall (7") doors under a porch roof at the left. On the first floor above the central arch is a small balcony with double doors again  - and at the side, a single door opening to a large roof terrace.


Some features of this house - the arches, the circular fretwork windows, the roof terrace - make me think of Moorish or Middle Eastern architecture. The plywood stencils of a camel and a bear add to this impression. We think the two animals on either side of the arched entrance are goats - what do you think?



The whole front of the house lifts away. Inside the double doors is the hallway and stairs. On a small door to a cupboard under the stairs is another plywood animal - a donkey, I think. And leading in to the next room is a large archway, with little round tables at the base of the arch. (One of these is broken, but there are more between the other rooms.)

Above each room, at the front, the plywood is shaped to form something like a proscenium arch or drapery. I'm sorry I didn't take a photo of the whole house open, so you could see them in each room. You can see them clearly in some of the photos of individual rooms, including this one:



This is the room that the arched entryway leads into. I found it a bit hard to arrange furniture in here - it seems natural to make it a living room, but the lounge chairs and sofa, and the small kidney-shaped table, make it a bit full - and it would be hard to enter through the arch!


This room is on the right side of the ground floor, under the roof terrace. I have placed a dresser and table with matching chairs here - I think this is the kitchen, although no stove or fire came with the house.


Upstairs on the left, the stairs lead to this landing. The green bench is removable - it is built to fit around the balustrade.

As you can see, all the floors in the house are covered with the same lino. In fact, the green base at the front of the house is lino too, which has been painted green.


I have placed the wardrobe in this room, with a matching chair - but there is no bed! My sister said that the people who live here must be party animals - there's nowhere to sleep, and nowhere to cook, either, so they must always buy takeaway food!

Through the door on the right of this room is the roof terrace.

I mentioned that the walls of this house are made of plywood. The furniture is mostly solid wood, although two of the tables have formica tops. The windows have a hard kind of plastic, like the kind that used to be used in shirt boxes, fixed between inner and outer fretwood frames. The flooring is hardboard, covered with the lino - you can see the underside of the hardboard in this photo:


(I haven't cleaned the undersides of the roof or floors yet!)

The roof is made of plywood over wooden struts, and the coloured tiles on the roof top are plywood too.



The base is interesting - the ground floor, like the first floor, is hardboard, but the frame is made of planks of solid wood, one of which has printed on it SYDNEY NSW AUSTRALIA. The base of more letters can just be seen above this, but not enough of the letters is visible to work out what it says.



The ebay seller I bought this from had bought it for her daughter Odessa, probably about 10-15 years ago. I don't know who made it, or when. It is probably homemade, perhaps in about the 1950s (going by the presence of both the lino and the formica) - or perhaps earlier, as the architraves and arches also have an Arts and Crafts look about them.

I'm not sure yet who will live here. What do you think? What does this house make you think of?  What kind of dolls do you think would like to live here?

14 comments:

  1. I LOVE this! The cut out animals are fabulous. Thw nursery colors too. The furniture looks so right for it. Cool find. CM

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    1. Thanks, CM! Yes, they're great nursery colours, aren't they? I think I'll try to find or make a bed for it - or at least a day bed. I would hate not to have anywhere comfy to sleep! ;-)

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  2. This is such a fascinating house Rebecca. It almost has a Noah's Ark feel with the shape of the house, the shape of the decoration around the front balcony and all the animals. It would be really interesting to know what influenced the builder of the house.

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    1. Thank you, 12Create, that's an interesting thought. With all the animals on it, I don't know why it didn't occur to me. I'd love to know the builder's thoughts too!

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  3. It looks like a theatrical Noah's Ark with those curtain like archways, the balcony and the animals, what an intriguing house. so I think Noah and Mrs Noah may have lived there, maybe this is their living quarters on the ark.

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    1. Hi DollMum, now you and 12Create have suggested it, I could see the central arch as an entry for the animals. Perhaps it will be a home for the Noah family - I'll see who comes along and wants to live there!

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  4. Rebecca,
    How charming the house is, I love it's whimsical shapes and colors.It reminds me of a 1930's movie set.
    Thanks for sharing it with everyone.
    Philip

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    1. Thank you, Philip - it does have the feel of an old movie set. Perhaps actors and actresses could live there!

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  5. Hello from Spain, i like this vintage house. IT is very big. There is plenty of space for the animales. Keep in touch

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    1. Hello Marta, thank you! Plenty of space for animals - or actors - or - we will see!

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  6. The Moorish design does pop-out doesn't it, in the colors, balconies, screened windows, arched doorways, colored lino resembling Moroccan tiles, the drapery effect in the front of the rooms, and even the slanted porch supports! Perhaps that explains why there is no European style kitchen...or beds. I agree with Phillip in that it too reminds me of a 30s movie set. Wonderful find Rebecca!

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  7. Perhaps I'd better find out what cooking and sleeping arrangements there might have been in Moorish-style dwellings? Or, if it's a movie set or something similar, then perhaps the wardrobe is for costumes, and the table and dresser for eating food brought in from outside ..... I've been looking at dolls who might like to live here, so we'll see!

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  8. Like some of the other commenters my first thought was Noah's ArK. The house has a boat shape and the animal motifs would suggest that. This is such a delightful house with such unexpected details like the round passages from room to room and the fancy valences at the ceiling of each room. This truly is a treasure. You must really be enjoying it.
    Susan

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    1. Hi Susan, thanks for your thoughts! I love all the detailing - such a lot of work (and love, I imagine) went into building it. I have some dolls who are staying here now, so I'll show them very soon.

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