Victoria’s Dollhouse
Queen Victoria’s Dollhouse, circa 1825-35
Photo by the Royal Collection Trust
This rather large, early English two-room dollhouse representing a traditional English townhouse currently remains on exhibit at Queen Victoria’s childhood home, Kensington Palace. Made in the traditional style of antique English dollhouses, it opens in the front to reveal two rooms; a kitchen below and a drawing room above, with the table laid for tea.
The house itself is rather large, and on its current cabinet display, the entire object measures 3 and 3/4 feet tall, 3 feet wide and just over 1.5 feet deep. It has a flat roof with the exterior painted to resemble brick; a fanlight above the door with four windows on the ground and six windows on the top floor.
It is thought that the dollhouse was made for the young Victoria by the Palace staff with bits and scraps of pretty palace wallpaper some time during the years of 1825 to 1835.
Later in life, when Queen Victoria found affairs of state weighing too heavily, she would go visit her dolls and dollhouse to remember the lightheartedness of childhood. The doll house is set up on a yellow rug which has the following quote from the Queen: “My earliest recollections are connected with Kensington Palace where I can remember crawling on a yellow carpet that was set out for this purpose.”
The house has undergone some minor structural changes over the years. Early black and white photos I found online show the kitchen ovens once stacked atop each other with a large child’s tea set on the kitchen floor, possibly one belonging to the young princess. At some point, the kitchen oven was moved and now both are placed on either side of the large kitchen fireplace with the original woodwork serving as a plate rack.
I have contacted the Royal collection trust to ask about the changes I noted in the house, and when they are able to gather more information, I will be sure to post it here.
Notice in this earlier photo to the left that the kitchen ovens are stacked one upon another to the right of the fireplace. In the later photo to the right, they are placed on the floor on either side.
Although sparsely furnished, it has some charming miniature antique items quite desirable in early dollhouses. There are pewter dishes, early irons, a wood-handled bed warmer, a wooden bucket with a wire handle and other fireplace utensils in the downstairs kitchen. Upstairs, we find a fancy porcelain miniature tea set, a brass bird cage, a mantle clock, a corner cupboard and a lovely hand-painted furniture piece with an inlaid mirror. My dollhouse collector friends suspect it perhaps may be a rare piece of Chinoiserie.
A closer view of the upstairs drawing room as currently displayed.
If you visit London, be sure to take a stroll through Kensington Palace where sovereigns have lived since its purchase by William III in 1689.
In one of the rooms open to the public, you can visit the nursery where a precocious princess once spent countless hours spinning many a merry childhood tales, and, in the center of the room, upon a yellow rug, you will encounter this charming early English dollhouse.
Queen Victoria’s Nursery, Kensington Palace
An early English townhouse by Silber & Fleming, similar in design to Queen Victoria’s house with a flat room box design with two rooms and a front opening.
Another peek inside the small dollhouse. Notice how the wall covering, which appears to be fabric, is of a much larger scale. This is not uncommon to find in early dollhouses which were often decorated by family members and used leftover material found laying about the house.
