Family

A Dollhouse From Her Grandfather

A Labor of Love That Will Last a Lifetime and Beyond

I apologize for the fuzzy pictures. These are scans; I have no idea where the negatives are.

My father was an engineer by trade, but he was more than that. He could design and build anything from a barn to a spiral staircase. He was creative and extremely talented.

When he told me that he was planning to make a dollhouse for our oldest daughter, I knew that it would be special. He worked on it for months, keeping it secret from his granddaughter and her younger sister.
When the day came for the unveiling, we were all astonished.

Her younger sister also played with it

Although not shown in these pictures, the dollhouse was complete with a removable exterior front and back. It looked like a real house. My father first showed us how to remove those to reveal the interior.

I’m sure you can imagine the wide eyes of our children. My wife and I were equally fascinated by the details. There was molding on the windows and doors, pictures and mirrors on the walls, and tiny lights built into the walls and ceilings. The…