A couple years ago my mother offered up an old dollhouse she'd been gifted. I adored the one I had growing up. I'd saved birthday money, Christmas money, chore money, ANY money; and all so that I could purchase the kit myself. It cost a small fortune for someone so young. I didn't build it myself, mind. I was young and active and wasn't going to sit still long enough for that. No, the actual construction was outsourced. 

It was a Greenleaf Pierce, and oh! How I loved that dollhouse! My mom, bless her, occasionally took me to craft shows several hours away just so I could furnish and accessorize it to my liking.

Greenleaf Pierce Dollhouse

I selected different colors than those pictured for mine. Some combination of peach and blue, if memory serves. I'm not fibbing when I say I can recall the actual shade of the blue paint, though: wedgewood blue. 

After I grew up and moved away the dollhouse was relegated to our outdoor shed and some years later, it was stolen. I was heartbroken from afar. The contents I'd taken along with me but sometime in the last seven years or so, and during one of my many, many moves, that box disappeared as well. The idea that those treasures can no longer be passed on to my child still sticks in my craw. 

When my mother offered me that old dollhouse, at the time it didn't matter to me what it looked like or even what state it might be in. I jumped at the opportunity, sight unseen. But the thing is, it has remained unseen. I don't know if it was having an infant to care for or simply being several states away, whatever the case, the existence of that dollhouse was pushed back into the dark recesses of my mind. Before I knew it, said infant had made her own journey and had even exited toddlerhood before it popped back out again. I can't even say for certain what stirred the memory! One day I was focused on other things and then BAM! I had a sudden, desperate, all-consuming desire to get my hands on that old dollhouse.

I pulled up the photos my mom had sent me those years prior, finally looking. I mean, really and truly looking.



Now, put yourself in my shoes. You are states away and all you have are these two snapshots. But you're going to try to glean everything you can, aren't you? Because now the bug is inside you and it's taking over and you have to know everything, everything, you possibly can about it. But it's nighttime, naturally, because that's when these things strike a tired mommy who should be resting but can actually think of nothing aside from this dollhouse that sits, biding its time, on somebody else's property.

So, what do we know? Well, it has seen better days. There is no flooring to speak of. The wallpaper, if any remains, has been scraped or torn, and there's no finishing to the roof. It's also missing all of the interior doors as well as two windows.

But, Hey! And now, isn't this interesting? There appear to be inner doorways that lead to ANOTHER side of the dollhouse. Also, there seems to be another facade resting immediately to the left of the one I can see in the picture. Is there not one but two sides to this dollhouse? Color me intrigued!

I send off a flurry of text messages to my mother whom I know is already soundly asleep in an altogether different state. I know that's a dead end until morning but she will wake and sense my urgency. This daughter knows she'll respond ASAP. Because she's my mom and she's perfection.

Somehow, based on hours of trolling the web into the wee hours, which is so blindly stupid when one has such a young child's demands to meet that I cringe even now writing and thinking back on it; but somehow, I manage to convince myself that this is an old Christian Hacker.

CHRISTIAN. HACKER.

Ha!

Front Facade of a Christian Hacker Dollhouse, Circa 1880

Come morning, even my dear, sweet mother, after having seen my frantic texts, sees the resemblance. She finds no CH symbol anywhere, however, but sends more pictures.



It is big, and it is wonderful, and indeed, has two sides! Just look at all of those rooms! I mean, Wow!

And yeeeeeet...

Nowhere in all of my searching have I seen a dollhouse that has two sides with two removable facades. Certainly not a Christian Hacker.

This is odd.

I begin searching for museums and experts. Because someone out there must know something about this dollhouse. I don't care a thing about its worth. If it's possible to trace its lineage then I really need to know. NEED TO!

Now, I have to say, I heard from absolutely every single person I reached out to, whether they knew thing one about it or not. They either stated as much or offered up the name of someone else I might try. People in the dollhouse community are AMA-ZING!

I can tell you the name of the person who finally informed me exactly what I have coming to me, and let me just say, the maker of the dollhouse wasn't a name I'd ever heard or seen even in passing in all my searching. The bearer of good news, however, was a wonderful woman out of Australia, Rebecca Green, who is affiliated with an incredibly helpful website and ezine called: Dolls' Houses Past and Present

So, what exactly do I have here?

It is a Hobbies of Dereham No 244 Special Georgian Dolls House, circa 1951 - 1955. This is a dollhouse out of the United Kingdom and designed for those who enjoyed fretwork. 

Now, as Rebecca so rightly pointed out, there's no telling what year the builder (very possibly some young girl's loving and doting father) actually constructed it; we only know that it wasn't constructed any time prior to 1951. 

There isn't much that I could find on the internet relating to this particular dollhouse and what does exist leads me back to dollshousespastandpresent.com

In short, its a mighty fine thing that their website exists or I might well have never gotten my answer!

I managed to snag, off EBay UK, an old copy of the 1951 Hobbies Handbook and the original design for this dollhouse was enclosed within. It would take some time to make its way across the pond to me, but at least I'd soon have more information.

Hobbies Handbook, 1951

Which brings me to the present and to the purpose of creating this blog: It's for my daughter, of course. One day, and assuming she even has any interest when she's old enough to appreciate a dollhouse, I think it would be fun to document the process of renovating it so that she can look back and see just how it came to be. It will be hers to pass along, after all. If she desires it, that is.

I thought long and hard, given what I now know, about whether I should focus on restoration or renovation. I don't much like the idea of tearing apart something that might one day hold historical or monetary value. I've seen one or two of these listed on UK auction websites, however, and they don't show much of an opening bid, nor do I see that they result in a sale. I've managed to convince myself it will be alright to begin entertaining the idea of an overhaul rather than a restoration.

It was lovingly handmade and I'd still like to pay tribute to the person who originally put it on the planet for our enjoyment, so I'll likely keep its bones as they are. I don't even have the dollhouse in my possession as yet and while plans may change, more than likely, I'll focus on updating the exterior and interior. There's not much that I can see that's original to it aside from, quite possibly, the exterior paper and paint, and those have seen better days. They're intact though, and for that reason alone I foresee the exterior causing me pause. That being said, I don't believe there will be any saving it either, as it has endured some time in the southern heat and humidity; the paper is very obviously damaged.

As of this day, that's where we stand. Simple speculation as to how to proceed once I've made the trip and safely transported the dollhouse back home with me.

That said, I'm so incredibly excited to take on the challenge!

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