I detest dame . They just creep me out . But , as I ’ve mentioned before on the_floss , I have a bizarre fascination with dollhouse .
I ’m in good company , though . let in amongst the million of people interested in miniature was Colleen Moore , a tacit film star whose career fizzled a bit when the talkies come out . But movies were n’t her only passion : a love of illumination was passed down to her from her father , and in 1928 , she enlisted the help of a set designer friend to make a remarkably elaborate eight - foot miniature “ fairy castle . ”
This is not your mean dollhouse , folks . Here ’s a small sample of the massive treasure contained inside :
A mural of Cinderella paint by Walt Disney himself . you may see it in the first color exposure above .
An DoI construct by famed designer Harold Grieve .
Tiny Word of God with signatures and inscriptions from source and composer including F. Scott Fitzgerald , Leonard Bernstein , Stephen Sondheim , William Randolph Hearst and Edward Albee .
pendant dripping with actual diamond , emerald and pearls .
Suits of armour made of real silver , given to Colleen by Rudolph Valentino .
A sliver of the True Cross . Colleen received this from her friend Clare Booth Luce , the Ambassador to Italy , who receive the token from the Pope .
The little Bible in the world , printed in 1840 .
Moore ’s mother ’s engagement mob , left to Moore by her mother to be repurposed as a vigil brightness level in the chapel of the doll’s house .
uncalled-for to say , though it cost about $ 500,000 to build , it ’s a priceless gem . During the Great Depression , Moore ’s dollhouse tour the country to raise money for children ’s Polemonium caeruleum . Stops in most major U.S. urban center raise most $ 700,000 between 1935 and 1939 . You might wonder how an 8’7 ” x 8’2 ” x 7’7 ” foot castle could travel so easily , but Moore had that covered : she had the nance castle designed to be broken down into 200 piece of music . Each of the room have a drawer in especially - designed shipping crates .
Though the tiny castle no longer tours , you could see the castle at itspermanent homein the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago .
Photos from theMuseum of Science and Industry
