Mindolton Manor and Lynnfield furniture

I found this wonderful big dollhouse on Craigslist, back June of 2009. It was fully built when I got it. It is made from a kit called the Bay Mansion #520 by Walmer which was available in the early 1980s.

The house is skillfully built. The exterior is beautifully finished. I love the colours the original owner used.

I have furnished the house exclusively with Lynnfield furniture (except for the grandfather clock in the library).

Chester Waite of Lynnfield, Mass. started making doll house furniture in the 1930's and marketed it as "Lynnfield". The furniture was elegantly and finely made and reflected several different periods of furniture design. The company changed hands several times over the years and the production moved to Columbia SA in the 1960's when Sonia Messer took over. Production ceased in the early 1980's. The furniture was marketed by Block House throughout its history and it is sometimes referred to as "Block House". The period styles remained the same over the years as did the nice quality and it continued to be made of genuine solid mahogany and mahogany veneers and assembled with tiny nails

The left wing (when facing the house) contains the Dining Room, Library, and Master Bedroom. There is a kitchen behind the dining room, but it is almost inaccessible and I have no pictures of it.

The butler is ready to serve dinner. Where is the family?

The library

All set for a chess game in front of the fire

The master bedroom has a nice sitting area

The middle section contains the stair halls. This is the entrance hall on the main floor.

The hall on the upper floor has a nice TV area for the family

The third floor hall has stairs leading to the attic which is not finished, so I have no pictures of it.

The right wing opens from the side and has 4 rooms

The living room is very elegant.

I love the Lynnfield furniture designs.

The lady of the house is a lovely Joan Benzell doll

I took a part a petit point evening bag to make the matching carpets

The bay windows in the door are great for extra furniture.

I love the veranda outside the living room

One of my favourite Lynnfield pieces is this large breakfront.

The right wing has a lovely big bedroom. The chaise lounge is a very rare Lynnfield piece.

A friend made this wonderful needlepoint rug. It is perfect in this bedroom

The vanity is also a rare piece

The nursery is above the blue bedroom

The large dollhouse is a Hallmark Christmas ornament

The small room that adjoins the nursery was shown on the dollhouse plans as the bathroom, but the builder of this house moved the door from the hallway to the nursery and made it the nanny's room. At the moment this large house has no bathroom.

I hope you enjoyed to tour. This is a very special dollhouse and I am happy to have it and the lovely Lynnfiield fruniture in my collection.

1949 Keystone Put-a-Way Dollhouse

The Stone Family is very happy. They have just moved into their new home.

Mrs. Stone holds the baby, Sally, and the children, Dick and Jane, stand in front of their parents.

The family poses outside the front door for their official portrait.  Their new maid, Maddie, isn't sure that she was invited to be in the picture.


But she inches closer and smiles for the photographer.

This dollhouse is called a Put-a-Way because the right and left wings on the lower level can be put away inside the house. The wing on the right side of the house has a covered patio on the front and a garage with a metal door that slides up on the back. The roof of this wing is another patio.

It is a lovely outside space for the family.

The foldout wing on the right is the kitchen, and also has a roof patio.

The garage is quite narrow and the door is very small, so the family will have to buy a tiny car. Will it fit all 6 of them (if the maid goes too)?  There are lithographed tools, licence plates, and tires on the wall, so I guess it is good for storage, at least.

Now that the picture taking is over Father and Mother decide to relax with a drink. "Yikes," says Father, "We are out of Scotch. By the way, did you see that giant cat outside?"
"It must belong to the neighbours." says Mother. "I will go out and get some more scotch. Will you keep an eye on the children?"

Mother gets her purse and prepares to go to the store.  Father is reading the paper,
but looks up to comment, "That cat seems to have found a giant bottle of water."
"That's nice, dear." Mother says. She is preoccupied with trying to remember
 where the store is.
"By the way," says Father, "whose dog is this?"

While mother is out shopping we can take a tour of the house.

Upstairs, we find the girls are in the nursery, Jane's doll is almost as big as her baby sister.

Jane wishes her brother  would come play checkers with her.  If she could find some checkers - and her brother.

The bathroom is a bit small, but it has a built-in shower,  The shower curtain is original to the house.

The parents bedroom is cozy too.

The furniture is Strombecker

Maddie the maid seems to be asking the cat to jump into her arms. She should probably be getting the baby's bottle ready.

Wake up Maddie. There's work to do.

The dining room has with Strombecker furniture too. It suits the house well

Both the dining room and the living room have built-in shelving. The doors under the shelves in the dining room open.

Here is the built-in shelving in the living room. It has lithographed scones on each side

Here is the house from the back with the wings open

Another view of the bathroom. A previous owner of the plastic Renwal furniture has painted it biege.  I find it gives it a more realistic look.

Mother's finally home. She not only found the store, but she found Dick too. He had been out riding his tricycle.

Mother notices that the house looks smaller than it did when she left. What happened to the kitchen and the garage? And the patios are gone, too. She wonders if Father has noticed.

Here is the back of the house with the wings are folded in. It may be good for storing the house, but it's not good for the dolls who live in it.  I wonder how the chillden of 1949 dealt with it.

I was excited to find this house in such great condition. I had been wanting a Put-a-Way house for quite some time. I have a soft spot for Keystone and Rich Toy houses because they are such fun to play with. This one was first sold in 1949.
Thanks for visiting.