Gilded Age Christmas Gifts: The "Mystery Dollhouse" from FAO Schwarz

Long before children in the 20th century were requesting a Barbie dreamhouse for Christmas, girls in the 1890s had dreams of receiving dollhouses that were no less elaborate than what we might see today! If you visit Staatsburgh during ‘A Gilded Age Christmas’ this year, keep your eyes open for a large dollhouse. The dollhouse was first put on display in 2023 and then again this year as a representation of the type of Christmas gifts one of the Mills daughters may have received.

1890 "Mystery dollhouse," donated by Joseph and Susan Feeks in 2023

This 1890 dollhouse was a recent gift to the site and donated by Joseph & Susan Feeks. The dollhouse had been in Susan’s family since it was first purchased by her great-grandmother. This is no ordinary dollhouse; this is an over-the-top, spectacular, 5-foot-tall dollhouse. According to the donors, the dollhouse was featured in the window of FAO Schwarz! While it was likely sold at FAO Schwartz, the large New York City toy store, the maker remains a mystery to this day. Thus, this dollhouse and others resembling it in different sizes and shapes, are all referred to as the "mystery dollhouses” by collectors and museums. While most dollhouses were made in Germany at the end of the 19th century, dollhouses were also common in the United States. It is possible that the "mystery dollhouses" were made in either place.

A postcard of the FAO Schwarz store at 5th Avenue & 31st Street. The store was located here from 1910-1931.

The FAO Schwarz store on 5th Avenue was a fixture in New York City from 1938 until the location closed in 2015.  In 2024, there is a branch open in Rockefeller Center. 

FAO Schwarz was one of the country’s preeminent toy stores for well over a century. It was founded in Baltimore in 1862 by a German immigrant named Frederick August Otto Schwarz (1836-1911). He worked in a stationary store that occasionally sold toys until he noticed that the store was selling more toys than stationary! In 1870, he expanded the operation to New York City and opened his first New York store under the name “Schwarz Toy Bazaar.” The store moved to several different locations over the years, but in 1890 it was located at 42 East 14th Street. By the 1890s, the store became known as FAO Schwarz and they established themselves as the finest toy store in New York. The store was especially known for its exhibition of toys leading up to the Christmas season. Each year a new catalogue would showcase all the wonderful and amazing toys to be found for sale in the store.

New York Daily Tribune, November 9, 1890. p.3

In the present day, we often lament how early the Christmas season begins, but it was not much different a century ago! An October 21, 1900 article in the New York Tribune announced that all of the Christmas goods at the Schwarz Toy Bazaar were already on exhibition. The article describes all the different types of toys that were for sale including dolls and dollhouses. It reads, “In the doll world there is a dolly who walks and talks and waves her arms. There are dolls with real eyelashes, and outfits complete in every particular, while the dollhouses are being fully equipped for the holidays with retinues of servants and electric lights.” Dolls and dollhouses were a popular gift for young girls. They were meant for play and amusement, but also to instruct young girls who would one day manage a household and the elaborate social occasions necessary for entertaining.

New York Tribune, October 21, 1900, p.23

These dollhouses were modeled after New York City townhouses owned by wealthy Americans.  They were extremely ornate with wallpaper, curtains, inlaid parquet floors, and light fixtures.  The dollhouses now known as the “mystery dollhouses” were available in multiple sizes: four, six, and eight rooms plus attic space.  No two were exactly alike.  The Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York has an eight room mystery dollhouse in their collection, while the one at Staatsburgh has six rooms.  In 1890, the Mills twin girls would have been 7 years old.  Might they have received a dollhouse like this one?  It is a distinct possibility, and it is likely that other young children in upper-class Gilded Age society were the ones receiving such an extravagant present.  One version of this house cost $150, which is equal to over $5000 in 2024.  This would be more than a month’s salary for a middle-class doctor or lawyer and far out of reach for anyone of more modest means.  Clearly this dollhouse was something marketed towards wealthy families at Christmastime. 

"Mystery Dollhouse" in the collections of the Strong Museum of  Play in Rochester, NY

"Mystery Dollhouse" advertisement in the 1897 Schwarz Toy Bazaar catalogue

Even though these “mystery dollhouses” were popular in the 1890s, and sold by New York’s most popular toy retailer, the mystery remains: no one knows the craftsperson or workshop where these dollhouses originated. The term “mystery dollhouse” was coined by Flora Gill Jacobs (1918-2006) in the 1960s. She founded the Washington Dolls’ House and Toy Museum in Washington, D.C. and authored several volumes about the history of dollhouses in the United States. Despite the mystery, some have speculated about the origin of these dollhouses. In the International Dolls’ House News, author and collector Anne Timpson speculated that the construction of the dollhouse suggests a local and not overseas origin. The impractical size (over 6 feet wide) as well as the small hinges on the doors and the small nails used to attach the base to the dollhouse are fragile which makes it unsuitable for overseas shipping.

This dollhouse was for sale in the September 28, 2024 auction at Theriault's Gallery in Annapolis, Maryland.  This "mystery dollhouse" was formerly owned by Jean Schramm, owner of the Enchanted Doll House, a shop in Manchester City, Vermont. 

In a 1975 pamphlet released by The Enchanted Doll House, a shop in Manchester Center, Vermont, owner Jean Schramm included an image of a dollhouse she owned that is nearly identical to the one donated to Staatsburgh.  That same dollhouse passed through two more owners until it was recently auctioned by Theriault’s in September 2024.  The photographs included in the auction listing show how similar the dollhouse is to the one at Staatsburgh as well as some slight differences. For example, the window moldings and shape differ as well as some colors.  In the interior, the parquet floors in all six rooms have a different pattern and style.  These differences highlight how each house was handcrafted to be special and unique.

Photos: (above) Parquet floor in the dollhouse that was recently auctioned by Theriault's Gallery. (below) Interior floor in Staatsburgh's dollhouse.

We are thrilled to provide a long-term home to the dollhouse played with by generations of children in Susan Feeks’ family.  It provides a first-hand look into the way young girls played as well as the amazing craftmanship necessary to construct a dollhouse with so many details and special touches.  If you are interested in getting a firsthand look at the dollhouse and touring the mansion this holiday season, follow this link and make a reservation!

“Mystery dollhouse” donated by Joseph & Susan Feeks is displayed in the Oval Room during “A Gilded Age Christmas” 2024.