Posts tagged ‘history’

The story of a wartime evacuee inspired Betty Melbourne with her creation of a country railway station – in another imaginative use of the original garden pavilion kit! (more…)

An unusual house sale has been taking place on the island of Guernsey this month. A fascinating collection of dolls’ houses to be precise, ranging in age from Victorian to modern times with prices going up to £2,500.

The oldest house in the collection, named the Ann Drury House after a Guernsey antiques dealer from whom it was acquired, is thought to have been originally made in the 1830s by a local estate worker using old boards and odd bits of wood. It has an estimated value of £1000.

The highest valued house in the collection is The Green House, a fine Victorian example of the art of the dolls’ house, which features a three storey design and includes three porcelain collectors’ dolls.

Of course, for each of us our own dolls’ houses are invaluable but it’s always worth keeping a history of dates and stories associated with them. They’ll certainly be fascinating for future generations and who knows what they might be worth!

Radio 4 will be taking a peek inside the world of the dolls’ house today at 11.30am. (more…)

So here we are, we’ve gone through 500 or so years of history, umpteen style periods and architectural compositions and now we’re almost up to date.  We left our guide at the mid point of the 20th century, just before Queen Elizabeth II ascended to the throne so let’s take  early fifties as our starting point. I hope you’re sitting comfortably because this will take a while!
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Last week we said this would be our final part of our era guide, but the 20th century covers so many design eras, we’ve decided we need two.

The 20th Century, combining two World Wars, the glamour of 1950s Hollywood, the swinging London of the sixties and the gluttony of the 1980s,  was certainly a colourful era to have experienced. In this installment we look at the interiors and architecture of the earlier half of the century.

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