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Queen Mary's dolls' house

Dolls' House
1887 (made)
Artist/Maker
Unknown
Place of origin
Liverpool (made)

The dolls' house was made in 1887 by a Liverpool firm called Ashcroft who normally specialised in billiard tables. It was made for a Miss Barker. Queen Mary bought it from the Royal School of Needlework where it was in an exhibition. At the time there was no furniture in the house but the Queen had furniture made and supervised all the interior decoration herself. It was given to the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1921.

Object details

Categories
Children & Childhood
Architecture
Dolls & Toys
Royalty
Dolls' Houses
Object type
Dolls' house
TitleQueen Mary's dolls' house (popular title)
Materials and techniques
Wood
Brief description
Dolls' house made by in England by Ashcroft in 1887
Physical description
The house consists of six rooms around a central staircase on two floors. On one side are a drawing room and withdrawing room with bedroom and study above; on the other side are a drawing room with bedroom above. The house has a ridged sloping roof with two chimneys. A lawn surrounds the house, and there are steps leading up to the door.
Dimensions
  • Height: 122cm
  • Width: 99cm
  • Depth: 66cm
Production typeUnique
Gallery label
(2014)
Queen Mary was the grandmother of the current Queen. She visited the Bethnal Green Museum (now V&A Museum of Childhood) several times in the 1920s. She loved dolls’ houses and had a famous one herself, now at Windsor Castle.

As well as this house, Queen Mary donated several miniature room settings, furniture by specialist craftsmen and a Japanese dolls’ house.

(2014)
This house was made in the Arts and Crafts style of the late 19th century. It was bought decades later by Queen Mary.

She bought furniture for the house, carefully furnished it how she wanted it, then presented it to the Museum in 1921.
Credit line
Given by Queen Mary
Summary
The dolls' house was made in 1887 by a Liverpool firm called Ashcroft who normally specialised in billiard tables. It was made for a Miss Barker. Queen Mary bought it from the Royal School of Needlework where it was in an exhibition. At the time there was no furniture in the house but the Queen had furniture made and supervised all the interior decoration herself. It was given to the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1921.
Collection
Young V&A Collection
Accession number
W.147-1921

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Record createdMay 24, 2005
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O112327/queen-marys-dolls-house-dolls-house-unknown/
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