A Doll House

Mary, Britain's domestic queen, universally beloved for her interest in better housing of the poor, is to receive the most magnificent doll's house ever made as a token of affection from her subjects. Sir Edwin L. Lutyens, designer of the Cenotaph, London's great war memorial, conceived the idea, enlisted the cooeperation of the greatest artists and artisans in England to carry it out. The house is a miniature model of a completely furnished royal palace, eight feet high, and everything in it is on a scale of one inch to a foot. Thumbnail paintings by Orpen, Sargent, Lavery, Cope, Holliday, of the Academy; murals by Nicholson; decorations by Edmund Dulac; etchings by Stanley Anderson; a staircase by Frampton, the sculptor; miniature books, with hand-written extracts by over a hundred British authors, including an original play by Barrie; music specially composed by Dame Ethel Smyth and other great ones; replicas of the royal jewels by Miss Winifred Whiteside, a 19-year-old miniaturist; tiny grand piano, Rolls-Royce car, typewriters, telephones, rugs, tapestries, kitchen utensils, bathroom and plumbing fixtures, heating system, electric elevators, completely appointed wardrobes, golf clubs, guns and foils--everything necessary to royal existence--are there. All is English-made and in the best English taste. A complete royal family of six-inch dolls, representative guest and a corps of servants will inhabit the palace. The walls can be raised and lowered. In January the doll's house will be publicly exhibited for a fee, and the proceeds will go to the Queen's charities. It will find a permanent home in Windsor Castle.