Hall's Lifetime Toys Dollhouse - 1970s Colonial Mansion

I recently found a Hall's Colonial dollhouse circa 1970.
I love the front of the house with the impressive pillars,
the deep windows and the wide veranda.

As I don't have any of the Hall's furniture I had fun furnishing it from
my collection of German furniture from the 60s and 70s.

Hall's Lifetime Toys offered this wonderful Colonial dollhouse in the late 60s or early 70s.

Hall's was in business, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, from 1942 to the late 1970's.

They made many kinds of dollhouses and doll furniture for 8-12" dolls, 3/4" scale miniature furniture and 1/12 scale furniture. The furniture was made of wood and sold in upper scale department stores.

Hall's even offered a dollhouse version of Mount Vernon, which I am sure would be much smaller than the Mount Vernon dollhouse shown in my last post.

The appliances from "Little Mother's Kitchen" are not German. They are pink tin and
were made in Japan in the late 1950s or early 1960s. They originally came in a
boxed set which also included a table, 2 chairs and a washing machine.

The dining room set is plastic and was made in Germany.

The living room furniture, excluding the sofa and TV is German
made by Crailsheim circa 1963.
Mr. and Mrs. Hall are going out. Mrs. Hall's brother is going to
babysit Ursula and Gudrun and the sleeping baby upstairs.
The girls are oblivious to everything except the TV.
Mrs. Hall's brother is starting to look oblivious too. 

The blue bathroom fixtures were made by Vero, a German firm, circa 1970.
The cabinet is plastic and goes with the living room chairs. It is by Crailsheim.
There wasn't room for it in the living room, so now it holds towels and toiletries.

The bedroom set is also German, possibly Bodo Hennig, and from the 50s or 60s. It is made of wood.

The wicker baby bed has a  Caco baby in it and is from that company.

The house has 4 rooms and an attic. The attic is very low ceilinged, but good for storage.

The TV set is a novelty salt and pepper shaker holder. When one turns
the knob the salt and pepper shakers are pushed up so one can grasp them.
Mr. and Mrs. Hall appear to be re-thinking the wisdom of leaving her brother
With their children and the liqueur bottles on the credenza
- not to mention the tray of cocktails on the coffee table.
Maybe they don't need to go out after all.

Mount Vernon in Miniature - The Dollhouse

The pillared side of the real mansion faces the Potomac River

The un-pillared side faces the bowling green

As a patriotic Canadian I decided to spend Canada Day weekend with friends in the USA.

They live in the Washington DC area so we went to visit George Washington's plantation, Mount Vernon, while I was there.

To my delight there was a 1/12th scale version of the mansion in the Orientation Centre.

The small dining room

Most of the bedrooms were for guests, but this is the Nelly Custis bedchamber for Martha's grandaughter

Each room in the dollhouse is a scale model of the corresponding room in the real house. The bed spreads, upholstery and furniture are miniatures of the real thing.

Also see the video here.

Of course the full size mansion was gorgeous. We were not allowed to take pictures inside.

West parlour

Blue Bedchamber

Central passage and upper hall

The green chairs represent the chairs on the veranda facing the river.
The room behind is the New Room (Or Large Dining Room)

Little parlour

Lafayette Bedchamber

Downstairs bed chamber

This room is a model of Washington's Library

A model of the bedroom George and Martha shared

I really enjoyed the tour of the estate. It is very interesting to see how they lived in those days.

And, of course, once our tour was over, I scoured the gift shop for miniatures to add to my own mini houses. I was successful as you can see. I bought miniature paintings, and a blue and white porcelain platter.

My friend bought me this lovely pewter tea set as a gift. It is a perfect dollhouse scale. I am still trying to decide which of my dollhouses will be honoured with its presence.

I had a lovely Canada Day weekend visiting the historic sites of our neighbours to the south.

I would highly recommend visiting Mount Vernon to see the wonderful dollhouse as well as the beautiful estate.