Dollhouse:Blue Roof Victorian Mansion

Building on the long tradition of dollhouse craftsmanship in Germany, the Moritz Gottschalk Company of Marienberg, Germany, led the industry in mass-producing dollhouses for children. By lowering production costs, Gottschalk made dollhouses available to a wide range of social classes, creating everything from simple one-room houses to the most elaborate mansions. The company's 1890s Victorian mansion stands as one of the most ornate houses it produced. F. A. O. Schwartz, one of the largest importers of Gottschalk toys to the United States, featured this house as a Christmas exclusive in its catalogues during the 1890s. The design used inexpensive production techniques of lithographed paper on wood to create a spectacular example of Victorian design with a wondrous concoction of gables, turrets, spires, spindles, brackets, balconies, and balustrades. Ludwig Moritz Gottschalk (1840-1905) began work as a bookbinder in Marienberg, Germany, in 1865, and soon expanded his business into children's toys. By 1877 his company manufactured all the paper and wood parts for children's dollhouses as well as the miniature furniture to furnish them.