Modern Miniatures on Monday: Parade of Houses, Part One (1950s Lundby)

In the lead up to my exhibition at Canberra Museum and Gallery,  I thought it would be a good idea to feature one house a week on here. This means if you can't make it to the exhibition you can still have a look at the houses in greater detail and if you can you get a sneak peak before you come.

And I get one house a week to concentrate on cleaning, mending and packing rather than having a huge mad freak-out in late September... I bought this vintage Lundby dolls house back in 2005 from Tradera (the Swedish version of eBay). Actually, to be correct, Elisabeth bought this house for me and I paid her back!

At the time it was believed to be from 1947, Lundby's founding year. But as Jennifer McKendry said in The Lundby Letter of December 2006 (PDF link):

The earliest surviving catalogue of AB Lundby Leksaksfabrik (PDF link) -- once thought to be from the company's founding year of 1947, but now re-assessed as dating from the late 1950s -- shows a house with a traditional gable roof over two-storey box-like form... 

Of course I now see it's pretty obvious as there's a TV in the catalogue and TV wasn't really common until much later that 1947. Still, I love this house and it's a very good example of a really early vintage Lundby.

Would you like a tour? Here's the bathroom, pictured through the window. Very utilitarian!To the right, at the top of the stairs is the music room with a piano and an original butterfly chair for relaxing in while pondering what to play next. The original era rug was a gift from Elisabeth and the plant is about 10 years too new for the house but it looks fine so I'm ignoring that anomaly (I may be a purist but sometimes I'm also very good at entering into the spirit of things and throwing the rules to the wind!)

Down the stairs we go, through the lounge/ dining area to the kitchen, which is furnished with original Lundby pieces from the era.(Except for the rug, which is modern - I reckon it works but would be interested in hearing what you think...)Back in the lounge there are all mod cons (a radiogram is hidden at the end of the couch - I wonder if I should remove the TV and move the radiogram across or not...) Don't you just love the wallpaper?My favourite spot is the reading nook under the circular stairs. Book case, chaise, lamp. What more do you need? (except maybe electricity to run the lamp. This is one of the few Lundby models without built in wiring for lighting. Oddly enough, though, the catalogue shows there are lights for sale at the same time as this house was listed...)

(Full pictures can be found in my Flickr dolls house miniatures set)

_________________________________________________________________________

Visit my other dolls houses