The Megler Landing

New Listing: 1890 Victorian beauty: 5 Br., 1 bath, orig. wd.wrk., stained glass, rare lghtng fixts., wall trtmnts. Oak flrs., 2 frplcs., 2 wd. stvs., bsmnt., attic, 1 car garage w possible rental rm. upstairs.. Exclnt. cond., some gutter repair rq.. Top cndtn. 1/12 scale.

Once again we have the pleasure of helping one of our past customers re-sell one of our dollhouses. As we are no longer building commissioned work, we enjoy the chance to be able to re-visit our past work, as well as to look for a buyer who will appreciate and care for the house as it has been in the past.

This house we remember fondly for the young buyers, a couple we met at a miniature show, who placed their faith in us, knowing they had to wait years before we could get to their project. By the time we finished the house they had a young son, Brodie, whose name we incorporated in the glass in one of the garage door windows. They were great lovers of Victoriana, and we enjoyed swapping letters with them during construction, trying not to give away too many of the details.

The Megler Landing was our 24th dollhouse, built in 1981, back-to-back with the Port Townsend house, which now resides in the Kansas City Toy & Miniature museum. We consider these two houses as representative of the peak of our Victorian building period. The Megler, named for a nearby town that was settled during the Victorian era, is a three-story tower house, plus basement and separate two-story garage. It also includes a secret room. Dimensions are: 56”w X 27”deep X 60” high at the top of the spire on the tower. The tower cap is removable, bringing it down to 47” high for ease of transport. The house includes many fine examples of Noel’s copper-foil method stained glass windows, including one etched with the date 1890 over the double-door entrance. The light fixtures include many of Marie Friedman’s chandeliers and smaller fixtures, as well as some glass shades made by Joseph Vorhees, who helped develop lighting for the Colleen Moore dollhouse.

The Megler features two of our trademark ornate brick chimneys, complete with working ash removal door on the exterior. These chimneys draft from two fireplaces—one each in the living room and dining room—plus a pot-bellied stove in the master bedroom, and wood burning kitchen stove. Because we liked our houses to smell, as well as look, real, the living room has a “working” fireplace, where logs of pine incense can be burned, causing smoke to curl up and out the top. The exterior is finished in deep green, hand-made horizontal drop siding, with ornate gingerbread in a muted cedar red embellishing the front porch, fish-scale shingle banding, and an aged shingle roof. We based the color scheme and decorative features on examples found in the book Exterior Decoration, a re-print of an 1885 Devoe Paint Company display book of paint chips and house designs.

The first floor consists of an entrance foyer, closet and stairwell, a parlor, dining room, kitchen with built-ins, pantry and back porch. All but the kitchen are finished with wood-stained wainscoting, with wallpaper or paint above, and stained fir, or oak floors with parquet borders. The wallpapers are all muted designs cut down from antique full-size wallpapers. They are slightly textured due to the old process of rolling clay infused pigments onto the papers. The fireplaces are brick, with dark wood mantels. The kitchen is painted a cream color with wood-stained trims, and a brick red painted fir floor. It includes a wood cook stove, built-in cupboards, and a wood and zinc countered sink unit

A wainscoted staircase leads to the second story which consists of a 15” X24” master bedroom with fireplace and sitting area in the tower alcove, a second bedroom with a closet, and a pink painted nursery with a glass-paned door opening out to a small deck over the back porch. At the core of the second floor is a bathroom equipped with claw-footed tub, sink, and toilet. The floors are stained and polished fir, and the walls either painted wainscot, or papered. The third story consists of one large finished room opening into the tower, a small bedroom, and an attic with redwood plank walls and newspaper insulation.

Downstairs, out the kitchen door, and aged brick path leads to the two-story garage. This structure would have been added to the property considerably later, perhaps in the 1920’s, to house the new family auto. Access is through the double-garage doors at the front, and a wooden and a one-light door on the side next to the house. The second floor room is finished with painted beaded wood walls, polished rough plank flooring, and includes a shed roof dormer with two windows. A rutted brick driveway leads to the entrance.

The basement of the house reached by a ladder-type set of stairs, and is finished in brick and rough wood planking. It includes built-in shelving and a wooden work bench. The house sits on a 4” deep oak base which also houses a drawer for the electrical transformers.

If you are interested in purchasing this house, or know of someone who might be, please contact us regarding price, shipping, and any further questions you may have regarding this house by filling out the form below.

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