B2—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 10,1984
Dollhouses No Longer Belong
Only to Little Girls
By PATTY GROSS MOCK
Staff Correspondent
HOLLIDAYSBURG - Dollhouse
collectors are coming out of the
woodwork. A new shop in Blair
County is attracting the growing
number of people interested in the
world of miniatures.
Ray, Cochran, Duncansville, and
Bill Burns, Wehnwood, opened the
Holiday Dollhouse Works last
October. Bill had been con
structing dollhouses in his
basement for several years, when
he decided he had to get his
business (including the dust), out
of the house.
The small two room workshop at
415 N. Juniata St. in Hollidaysburg
was the ideal place for Bill and his
friend Ray to expand their interest
in dollhouses. The partners take
pride in designing miniature
furniture for every room in the
house.
‘People prefer to buy our fur
niture,” Ray emphasizes.
Most of the furniture is made
from bass wood and stained with
walnut, maple or oak. Some of the
furniture is unfinished for those
who wish to paint it. They also
offer kits of plastic furniture.
Movable parts are very common
on the furniture handcrafted by the
co-owners. The rolltop desk ac
tually opens, a cradle rocks and so
does the rocking chair. Drawers in
dressers, chests, dry sinks, and
cupboards open. The dining tables
expand and colorfully bound books
line the shelves of the bookcases.
There is a great demand for
refrigerators, stoves, the canopy
beds and the baby grand piano.
Remarkable care is taken when
furnishing the dream home. It is
possible that more attention is
Houses vary with design and construction. The price
depends on how elaborate the dollhouse is.
Al . jng you ive in your home can be duplicated in a dollhouse. If Ray and Bill don’t
have the furniture you’re looking for, they can make it. The co-owners of the Holiday
Dollhouse Works say people prefer to buy their handcrafted wood furniture.
offered to the small, elaborate doll
houses, than to the large livable
homes in which people live.
“Many people furnish one room
at a time,” explains Ray. Piece by
piece is put into the house as it’s
afforded. He admits that the ac
cessories are not cheap. He tells
the story of seeing one client’s
dollhouse which is elegantly
decorated with $1,700 worth of
furniture.
A Centre County collector draws
pictures of her own furniture which
she then mails to the custom
builders. They duplicate her
furniture in a mini-style. The
artists are proud of their craft,
displaying it for all to see.
Over and over again the craft
smen emphasize their willingness
to cooperate. “We try to do
anything that people want done, if
it’s possible,” says Ray. “As long
as we have time we’ll do it.” They
even put pieces back together.
Whether the dollhouse or furniture
is damaged by the client, little
hands, or chewed on by a cat (that
has happened), Ray and BUI can
make it right.
You would think working with
such tiny objects would try your
patience. They refute that by
saying the work relaxes them. It’s
a hobby that the retired men have
turned to for enjoyment and
relaxation.
“There’s no pressure. Bill and I
didn’t retire to have pressure,”
laughs Ray. “When this becomes a
job that’s when I get out of it.”
They prefer to keep busy and as
Ray confides, it keeps them out of
their wives’ hair.
Ray joined his friend in the
“small business” when Bill opened
the works last fall. But he says he
- .ns jllhouse was custom designed by the Holiday Dollhouse Works. The
specialy of the new business is constructing small copies of a client's own home.
has been around building for many
years. Ray retired from selling
insurance and an insurance
claim’s department after 32 years
on the job. A retired railroad
engineer, Bill has started to sell
model railroads in the shop.
The place is not only a con
struction business, but probably
most importantly a hangout for
good friends. They have people
making regular visits just to talk
or take in a game of pinochle in the
workshop. Depending on how
many orders they have vo fill, the
men feel comfortable doing as
much talking as working.
The pair have a few dollhouses
ready to sell, but the majority of
the time.they will take orders
before manufacturing the
products. They get many ar
chitectural design ideas from area
neighborhoods, magazines or
advertisements. If they see a house
they like, they make it. A specialty
which is gaining in popularity is
the special orders for scaled-down
models of customer’s homes. A
picture is either supplied to the
shop or they travel to the home to
take their own picture and collect
information. The miniature houses
can be made two story with dor
mer windows, bilevel, ranch or
whatever style a client occupies.
Every piece of the house is in
dividually cut. The siding is cut
piece by piece and painted. The
doors and windows actually open
and close and display glass.
Cathedral ceilings are not un
common in the houses. The
parquet floors in each room
sparkle and shine. Bill and Ray
have a large selection of small
print wallpaper to brighten each
room. They cover the walls before
the house in built, unless the client
jy -g - jg .
vestment. Dollhouses are now owned by as many adults as
children. This one shows how elaborate the houses can be.
house, including the wallpaper, is a scaled-down version of
the customer’s home.
prefers to do it at home. Some have
been known to bring in scraps of
material from the construction of
their original house to have a
perfect replica.
“You can have anything for a
dollhouse that you have in your
own home,” admits Ray. They
carry all the accessories to furnish
a house. You can decorate with
paintings, lamps, giftwrapped
packages, dishes, vacuum
cleaners and more.
Holiday Dollhouse Works sells
kits, custom built homes or they
will make you a kit to your
specifications to put together at
home. The houses vary in the way
they are designed and constructed.
Many of them have eight or nine
rooms. Prices vary as much as the
Homestead
homes contrast. The kits are $2O
and the custom built dollhouses
start at $l5O. Some of the more
expensive models are wired to
accomodate the ceiling lights and
the outlets in each room.
They have been told by out-of
towners that a house could be
purchased at the Hollidaysburg
shop and sold elsewhere for double
the money. The prices do seem to
be readily accepted by customers
from across the country. Most
recently a house was shipped to
Boston. It was topped with real
asphalt shingles, mahogany floors
and electricity.
Dollhouses are no longer the toys
of little girls. Adults are pur
chasing dollhouses for themselves
(Turn to Page B 4)
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