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dollhouses

December 14, 2020 By HS Board

Constable: Pandemic brings us ‘Honey, I shrunk the Holiday Housewalk’

With the pandemic scuttling the Mount Prospect Historical Society’s annual Holiday Housewalk fundraiser, director Emily Dattilo came up with the idea of giving patrons a virtual tour of six historic dollhouses.

by Burt Constable, 12/13/2020

With the 2020 pandemic scuttling the Mount Prospect Historical Society‘s 33rd Annual Holiday Housewalk, the group is using a new idea and toys from the past to save its biggest fundraiser of the year.

“It was my first idea, right out of the gate,” says Emily Dattilo, 27, a Mount Prospect native hired in July as the society’s new director. Forced to scrap the idea of hordes of strangers paying $28 to take a December walking tour through historically significant homes in the village, she turned to the society’s collection of antique dollhouses.

“What if we did a tour of the dollhouses?” she thought.

“Virtual tours have become the norm for now,” says Ed Johnson, 42, a 14-year board member who happens to be a professional videographer. His DroNationproduction company does virtual tours of houses for real estate agents. But how do you do a “walk-through” of a dollhouse?

“I have this tiny little camera,” Johnson says of his OSMO Pocket video camera. “It’s literally the size of the dolls in the dollhouses. I can get different angles other than what a human can see. It’s as if you shrunk yourself and little you was taking a tour.”

Using a tiny camera, professional videographer Ed Johnson takes patrons on “walk-throughs” of six historic dollhouses in the Mount Prospect Historical Society’s 33rd Annual Holiday Housewalk fundraiser. – Courtesy of Ed Johnson, Mount Prospect Historical Society

Placing the camera in any room of a dollhouse, Johnson can use his cellphone to control the camera’s gimbal and change the view as if he were turning his head.

“It feels like you’re stepping into the dollhouse. You can see their Christmas trees. You can see the pictures on the wall,” Dattilo says. “It’s amazing.”

The view of the only private dollhouse among the six in this year’s tour is one original owner Judy Hasenjaeger never envisioned when she caught the dollhouse bug as a 10-year-old girl during a 1945 trip to Chicago with her parents, Joe and Alice Connelly. The elaborate Fairy Castle dollhouse, created by actress Colleen Moore and now a permanent attraction at the Museum of Science and Industry, was on display in the windows of Marshall Field’s, and led to a dollhouse under the family tree.

The dollhouse Judy Hasenjaeger, 85, played with as a girl in 1945 was put in storage until her daughters, including Julie Michalik seen here, were old enough to play with it. The dollhouse now is being put to use by a fourth generation of kids. – Courtesy of Mount Prospect Historical Society

“I had five good years,” says Hasenjaeger, who was an only child. “Then it stayed packed up for a long time until my girls were 10 and played with it.”

She and her husband, Bob, let daughters Julie and Nancy play with the dollhouse, and sometimes repel assaults from their brother John’s G.I. Joe, until they outgrew it and packed it away. When Julie and Joel Michalik’s daughter Magen turned 10, the house came out of wraps again until Magen grew older and the house went into storage. Now, Magen Pignataro’s daughters Holly, 12, and Leah, 9, can occupy the dollhouse.

“Each time it comes out, it’s pretty cool,” says Hasenjaeger, now 85. “I really never thought I’d be seeing it again.”

As is the case for many full-size houses in Mount Prospect, every generation made changes, such as painting the walls a different color, adding carpeting or updating the furniture, Julie Michalik says. The 1924 English Tudor house where she and her husband live was part of the Holiday Housewalk in 2018 and retains its original look. The couple worked to restore the dollhouse to the way it looked 75 years ago.

A Christmas present to her mom 75 years ago, this dollhouse renovated by Julie and Joel Michalik of Mount Prospect now is on its fourth generation with the family. – Courtesy of Mount Prospect Historical Society

“I learned more than I thought I would about miniaturists,” Julie Michalik says.

She made tiny copies of photographs of her grandparents and parents to hang above the dollhouse’s fireplace. There is a plate of tiny cookies waiting for Santa, a 1940s-era desk with an old telephone and elaborate Christmas decorations, including a Christmas tree sporting a tiny paper chain that took Michalik eight hours to make.

Another dollhouse on the virtual tour is the Atwood Manor built by the late Margie Atwood as a replica of the Mount Prospect house where she had lived since 1942. It includes an elaborate staircase, wood molding, wallpaper, electric lighting, and a hand-sewn, pink silk bedspread.

A dollhouse built in 1932 features plenty of wood, including an unusual red living-room set in Art Deco style.

The 21st Century House, donated in 2000 by Shirley and Bud Budris, wasn’t meant as a toy but as a work of art.

By using a tiny camera, Mount Prospect Historical Society board member Ed Johnson is able to show the miniature fixings inside of dollhouses in great detail. – Courtesy of Ed Johnson, Mount Prospect Historical Society

The Chalet House, donated by the Walgreens on the southeast corner of Kensington and Wolf roads, is a stylish, brightly colored mid-20th-century toy that required parents to assemble the fiberboard house with included nuts and bolts.

The oldest house in the collection is the Edwardian Eclectic Dollhouse built out of mahogany in 1905 by Charles Semft as a Christmas present for his granddaughter Erns Keller, with intricate furnishings crafted by hand. But it also has a twist from the 1970s, with rainbow wallpaper and dolls and accessories from “The Sunshine Family” dollhouse by Mattel.

“The last kid to play with it left the Sunshine Family in there,” Dattilo says. “That’s what’s so cool about this. The dollhouses span the century. The dollhouses are very distinct.”

The tour is sponsored by local Realtors Bill Farrell of ReMax Suburban, Jim Regan of ReMax Suburban, Judith Muniz of Habloft, Laura Parisi and Kelly Janowiak of @Properties, Mary O’Malley of @Properties, and Tom and Mary Zander of Picket Fence Realty. Johnson shot all the footage and spent another 20 hours editing it into a show that includes old photographs and stories about the times when the houses were built, and their unique features.

When the pandemic canceled its annual Holiday Housewalk, the Mount Prospect Historical Society brought the event down to size by creating a video “walk-through” of six antique dollhouses. – Courtesy of Ed Johnson, Mount Prospect Historical Society

For $10, a household can view the dollhouses online from Dec. 15 to Feb. 15. For information and tickets, visit the mtphist.org website.

Copyright 2022 Daily Herald (www.dailyherald.com)

Filed Under: Breaking News, dollhouses, pandemic-articles

December 10, 2020 By HS Board

Dollhouse Video Tour

NOW EXTENDED UNTIL FEBRUARY 28!

Just in time for the year-end holidays and the cold months of winter, the Mount Prospect Historical Society is pleased to present its “first-ever” online video Dollhouse Walk.

Emily Dattilo, Museum Director

Like many other organizations, the Society has been impacted by the COVID pandemic. Most of its in-person programs and events have been cancelled this year, including the extremely popular annual Holiday Housewalk, the Society’s major yearly fundraiser since 1987. 

With homeowners justifiably hesitant to allow others into their homes during the current pandemic, the Society’s director, Emily Dattilo, and Board member/videographer, Ed Johnson, got creative. They came up with a virtual Dollhouse Tour that rewards the imagination as curious visitors tour six furnished homes of different eras, all viewed from a doll’s scaled-down perspective, and free from concern about the coronavirus. 

Five of the featured dollhouses are from the Society’s own collection. The sixth is owned by a former Holiday Housewalk homeowner, Julie Michalik, who has graciously allowed the Society to showcase her gorgeous dollhouse that originally belonged to her mother, Judy Connelly Hasenjaeger, also of Mount Prospect. 

The scaled-down tour was created with a tiny camera that allows viewers to feel like they’re walking through the miniature homes while listening to narrators describe the homes’ histories and details. The “Dollhouse Tour” portion of the MPHS website also discusses the venerable, several-century history of dollhouses and includes a fun “I Spy”-style game asking viewers to locate certain items in each house. 

“Your participation in this unique tour will help the Mount Prospect Historical Society recover some of the funds typically raised by our annual Holiday Housewalk,” said Deb Rittle, MPHS president. “Our staff, board and many volunteers work hard year-round to make the Mount Prospect Historical Society a vibrant part of our community, and the proceeds of this special event will allow the Society to continue to provide history-themed programs, seminars and events for all ages.” Play a video clip of the program below.

“We offer a huge thank-you to our six realtor sponsors – Bill Farrell of ReMax Suburban, Kelly Janowiak and Laura Parisi of @ Properties, Mary O’Malley of @ Properties, Jim Regan of ReMax Suburban, Judy Muniz of Habloft LLC, and Tom and Mary Zander of Picket Fence Realty.”

This unique tour will be available for viewing from December 15, 2020 to February 28, 2021. Click on the registration form tab above to register. The cost is $10 per household. Any questions, please visit our FAQ page, or please call us at (847) 392-9006 Tuesday-Thursday, 9-4 pm. Please note the office is closed Friday-Monday. Email us anytime for quicker assistance at info@mtphistory.org.

For more information about the project read an article that appeared in the Daily Herald by Burt Constable.

Filed Under: dollhouses

December 7, 2020 By HS Board

Housewalk News

The Mount Prospect Historical Society Board of Directors has chosen to cancel its 33rd Annual Holiday Housewalk for December, 2020, due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.  The  Society will be holding a virtual housewalk of dollhouses as our holiday fundraiser this year.  Please join us for this delightful event. Stay tuned for registration details. Watch a preview below:

“We offer a huge thank-you to our six realtor sponsors – Bill Farrell of ReMax Suburban, Kelly Janowiak and Laura Parisi of @ Properties, Mary O’Malley of @ Properties, Jim Regan of ReMax Suburban, Judy Muniz of Habloft LLC, and Tom and Mary Zander of Picket Fence Realty.”

This unique tour will be available for viewing from December 15, 2020 to February 15, 2021. The cost is $10 per household. Any questions, please call us at (847) 392-9006 Tuesday-Thursday, 9-4 pm. Please note the office is closed Friday-Monday. Email us anytime for quicker assistance at info@mtphistory.org.

Filed Under: Breaking News, dollhouses, Events

November 7, 2020 By HS Board

The Chalet (1960s-70s)

Photo of Dollhouse

Welcome to The Chalet! This dollhouse was inspired by Swiss chalet architecture, with a mid-century modern twist. For only $6.99, or $8.94 in the 1975 Sears Wish Book, a child could buy this fully furnished dollhouse. The only catch to this deal is that an adult would have to assemble the fiberboard dollhouse with the included nuts and bolts. The Brumberger Manufacturing Company of New York produced The Chalet and other dollhouse models between 1965 and 1975. Innovations in mass-production just before this time period made this dollhouse more affordable than many of its predecessors.

One of those mid-20th century innovations was the use of plastic furnishings. Plastic furniture, like the pieces here in the living room, could be made on a smaller scale, in more detail, and more consistently than wood furniture. The corner bookcase, with its stack of books clearly visible between two horsehead bookends, is a good example of the new possibilities of plastic.

The kitchen and dining room showcase some late 1960s and early 1970s design trends. The walls of the dining room are covered in wood paneling and matching wall sconces set off the large pastoral painting. All of these elements draw inspiration from Colonial Revival style. The kitchen floor is covered in robin’s egg blue speckled tiles. If this kitchen was life-size, the tiles probably would have been made of vinyl, a newly popular flooring material in the 1960s.

At the top of the modern staircase is the bathroom. The avocado green and golden yellow floor tiles are iconic colors of this era. In a real house, the tiles may have matched the fixtures and even the toilet paper! The bathtub in the corner resembles a hot tub, but it’s actually called a Cinderella bathtub. This compact square style was popular throughout the middle of the 20th century.

One of the most noticeable elements of this bedroom is the striking shade of blue on the walls and carpet. We’ve already seen some bold colors in this dollhouse, but the printed shag carpet makes this room extra stylish by mid-20th century standards. During this carpet’s heyday it showcased the industry advancements that had made wall-to-wall carpeting more affordable and more colorful than ever before.   

The roof overhang creates a small shelter on the side of the dollhouse called a carport. It’s not an entirely enclosed space, but it provides a car some protection from the elements and storage for backyard tools. This element is also a Midwestern design feature. Architect Walter Burley Griffin included the first documented carport in the 1909 home of William and Jennette Sloane in Elmhurst.

Thank you for taking a tour of this chalet dollhouse with us! We sincerely appreciate your support for the Mount Prospect Historical Society.

Filed Under: dollhouses

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Mount Prospect Historical Society
101 South Maple Street
Mount Prospect, IL 60056
847.392.9006
info@mtphistory.org

The Mount Prospect Historical Society is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that is committed to preserving the history of Mount Prospect, IL, through artifacts, photographs and both oral and written memories of current and former residents and businesspeople.  On its campus in the heart of the Village, the Society maintains the 1906 Dietrich Friedrichs house museum, the ADA-accessible Dolores Haugh Education Center and the 1896 one-room Central School, which was moved to the museum campus in 2008, renovated and opened to the public in 2017, the 100-year anniversary of the Village.

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