Doll Houses Table of Contents (click on name to move to section)

Houses and other structures

Furniture

Figures

Accessory Sprue

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Collectors can debate long and hard as to whether dollhouse sets are also play sets.  I'll reserve judgement on that, but at the same time will include this page on the web site.  With many thanks to dollhouse guru-ess Larraine Elcock I have managed to put together this page to show a good deal of the Marx dollhouses and accessories.  Those wanting more information should go to Ms. Elcock's page at "All Dolled Up" .

Houses and Other Structures

     Houses

Marx made a lot of dollhouses!  I am not even attempting to show them all on this page, but you can go to Larraine Elcock's "All Dolled Up" to see most all of them.  Below are photos of a few typical houses that Larraine has allowed me to copy from her web site.  I greatly appreciate her generosity.

One of Marx' earliest tin litho doll houses was this 1949 Colonial style house, the style that the company used most often, remodeling it several times over the years.  This first one has a side garage with a patio on top of it.  The rooftop patio was found on many of the Marx Colonial houses.

Colonial style with garage Photos courtesy of Larraine Elcock from All Dolled Up

One year later in 1950, the Colonial had been re-modeled with the garage converted to a laundry room.  Meanwhile, a rec room was added to the other side of the house, with a breezeway attaching it to the main house.

Colonial style with breezeway and rec room Photos courtesy of Larraine Elcock from All Dolled Up

In 1953, Marx sold a T-shaped ranch house that sat on a large base.  Part of the base's back created a patio in the backyard with flowers and a small pond.  The house also had a hard-to-find TV antenna that is not shown in the photos below.  Several of the Marx houses had similar bases to show landscaping, both front and back.

T-Shaped ranchhouse Photos courtesy of Larraine Elcock from All Dolled Up

In 1959, Marx jazzed up the Colonial style by adding columns to two new doll houses.  Below is the larger one with dormer windows on the roof.  The smaller version had four columns spaced more closely together and did not have the wide base that allows a pond, seen on the left of the first photo below.

Colonial house with columns Photos courtesy of Larraine Elcock from All Dolled Up

The company's Marx-A-Mansion released in 1961 was the largest doll house manufactured by Marx.  It included a Florida room (on left in second photo) and had curtain rods for actual curtains.  

Marx-A-Mansion (commonly called the Marxie Mansion) Photos courtesy of Larraine Elcock from All Dolled Up

One of the final doll houses created by Marx was a ranch house with a lift-off roof.  Introduced in 1965, the structure had all four walls, so there was no inside view from the back, only by lifting off the roof.  It's a hard one to find in today's market.

Rancher with lift-off roof - front, back, and inside Photos courtesy of Larraine Elcock from All Dolled Up

One unusual and hard-to-find dollhouse is in the Doll's Bungalow set made at Marx' Swansea facility in Great Britain.  Note that the metal stamping is similar -- or perhaps identical -- to the early Wild West cabins.  This house with slightly different lithography was also used in a small number of hard-to-find farm playsets produced in the U.S., as mentioned in PFPC Issues 35 and 56.  Some information on these can be found on the Farm Accessories page of this web site.

Also note that while the bungalow has only one room, it comes with at least two rooms of furniture, plus a set of patio furniture!  

All photos below courtesy of veteran seller/collector Rick Eber
Box for Doll's Bungalow set	Doll's Bungalow set:  box, building, furniture, and bags
Front of Bungalow house	Inside of Bungalow house
All photos above courtesy of veteran seller/collector Rick Eber

     Other Structures

         Fencing and hedges

I am not sure how many or which dollhouses came with the fencing shown below.  However, it is an extremely well-made fence with three different pieces, as shown.  The fence also included tab holes so that you can either 1) insert a 90-degree turn in the fence or 2) continue the fence in a straight line at the end of any piece you wish to do so.

All pieces are 6-1/2 inches wide, plus the two small tabs to connect with the next piece.

Fence piece with gate Gate does not open.	Fence piece with light pole.
Fence piece	Corner of fence piece with two sets of tab holes, one to continue fence in a straight line and another to have fence turn 90 degrees.

Hedge piece

          Swimming pools

Marx made at least two thin plastic swimming pools for its doll houses.  The one shown below is about 9-1/2 inches by 13 inches.  

Swimming pool on rectangular base

          Playground equipment

Marx created an 11-piece set of playground equipment from the kids that lived in its dollhouses.  When assembled, this included a swing set with two swings and a slide, a seesaw, a sandbox, and two children.  The swingset is 4-1/2 inches tall; items are shown in slightly smaller scale than the figures on this page.  The swing set is an attractive piece, but made of soft plastic, its long, thin pieces warp easily, as can be seen in the photos.

Assembled swing set	Swing set with children and attached slide

Slide attaches to side of swing set, as shown above

Seesaw	Sandbox

Furniture

I'm still pretty well ignorant of Marx dollhouse furniture, but with the help of Ms. Elcock's web site and the book "Doll Houses and Plastic Doll House Furniture" by Mary Brett, I have picked up a bit of knowledge.  The company made furniture in two scales, 1/2-inch and 3/4-inch.  Possessing only one Marx dollhouse myself, I am uncertain if the dollhouses also were made specifically in these two scales or not.  The photos shown below are of the small number of furniture items I have purchased; my organization of the pieces follows that shown on Ms. Elcock's web site.  To see more of the Marx furniture -- perhaps all of it -- go to her Marx dollhouse furniture web page .

     1/2-inch contemporary

Living Room

     1/2-inch traditional

Living Room

     1/2-inch French provincial

Living Room

     3/4-inch traditional

Living Room
Easy chair	Sofa		Tall back chair
Floor lamp	End table with books	Coffee table	Television -stereo Notice that it is a Marx TV

Dining Room
Table		China cabinet
Chair with arms	Chair without arms	Side server

Kitchen
Refrigerator 3-5/8 inches tall	Table	Chair
Stove	Sink	Cabinet

Master Bedroom
Bed	Chest of drawers	Easy chair	Ottoman
Dresser	Dresser stool	End table with books	Lamp

Nursery
Crib	Playpen

Chest of drawers	High chair	Chair

Bathroom
Bathtub	Sink

Toilet	Hamper	Stool

Utility Room
Double sink		Mangle		Stool for mangle

Tall cabinet	Washing machine	Ironing board

     Imagination Dollhouse

Living Room

     Lift-off Roof Rancher Dollhouse

Living Room

Living Room

Figure Groups

This section shows 10 groups of dollhouse figures and to the best of my knowledge includes all the dollhouse figures made by Marx.  One group -- the Pool Kids -- came with a few accessories for the swimming pool.  In addition, at least one dollhouse came with a fox hunt figure group, which is shown on the Sports page of this web site.

     Hard-to-find Early Basic Family Group

According to veteran collector and seller Rick Koch, this seated family may be the earliest Marx dollhouse family.  They are very hard to find, and reportedly not many collectors have ever seen them.  I am not sure of their exact size.  The photos below were provided by Russian collector Denis Rylev.

1.  Father, seated with hands on knees	2.  Mother, seated with feet crossed	3.  Baby, standing	4.  Baby, sitting
Above photos courtesy of Denis Rylev

     Seated Children Figure Group

The 4-figure group below is shown both in "Geppert's Guide to Non-Metallic Toy Soldiers of the U.S." and on Kent Sprecher's web site.  However, there is some question in my mind as to whether these figures were manufactured by Marx or by other toy companies (Thomas Toys and/or Acme) and sold to Marx for use in their dollhouses.

According to Kent, Marx purchased figures from Thomas for its early doll houses that were sold even before the onset of the Playset Era about 1951, such as the boy with one hand in his pocket at left.  Based partially on evidence from a web site about Thomas Toys, he suggests that the figures were made either by Acme or Thomas (both owned by Islyen Thomas) and marketed by Thomas.  While Marx may have eventually made at least some of these figures, it is probable that Acme or Thomas made some of those that are found in today's market.  If so, I am unaware of any way to tell who made which, though my experience suggests Thomas figures may be slightly larger than Marx (I could be wrong!).

The figures generally came in cream and pink vinyl, but may also exist in hard or soft plastic, as well as other colors.  The seated boy below is about 1-3/4 inches tall, and the seated girl is 1-1/2 inches tall.  The boy and girl were also included with a Marx school bus sold separately from play sets, shown with the Little Red Schoolhouse set in the America at Work section of this web site.  The two infants are slightly different in size, the pink one being just a bit taller.

As to my own thoughts on this group, I have to question whether this is actually a "group" that came from a single mold.  The two seated figures and smaller baby are commonly found in today's market, but I have found the baby with his/her hands up to be more difficult to find.  Notably, Thomas/Acme and others manufactured some nearly identical baby poses with their hands in different positions.  Perhaps someone else out there can provide more light on the subject?

1.  Boy seated, wearing shorts	2.  Girl seated, wearing dress	3.  Baby seated, hands held up Photo courtesy of Rich Delbert, Ebay 44starstuff	4.  Infant seated, hands held out Shown in pink and cream.  It is possible that the pink figure was made by Thomas Toys.

     Early Basic Figure Group

Marx produced its first doll house figures in the early 1950s.  These came in 1/2-inch scale, larger than its largest play set figures, which were about 3/8-inch scale (commonly referred to as 60mm scale by collectors).  They came in cream and pink vinyl.   These four figures were also used as customers in the company's Pet Shop Playset.

1.  Father, right hand in pocket	2.  Mother, right hand brushing hair	3.  Son, hands in pockets	4.  Daughter, right hand out

     1950s Basic Figure Group

A second set of four figures was released in the later 1950s.  This group and the 1960s group shown below are discussed in Rick Koch's column in PFPC Issue 35 of 1995.  Rick points out that while the standing baby (Pose 4) is the same in both groups, the clothes and hairstyles of the other figures are different and "...accurately depict the era in which they were produced."  He notes that the hemlines of the dresses for the mothers and daughters are higher for the 1960s figures.  Hairstyles on both also differ.  The 1950s father has "baggy-legged pants, wide tie, and long coat"; the 1960s version has tapered slacks, a thin tie, and shorter coat.  Rick also points out that the 1960s dad appears to have a crew cut!

1.  Father, pipe in right hand	2.  Mother, right arm at side, left hand on hip	3.  Daughter, arms at sides	4.  Baby, standing

     1960s Basic Figure Group

1.  Father, book in right hand	2.  Mother, right arm held out, left hand on hip	3.  Daughter, holding doll	4.  Baby, standing

     Doll House Kids

1.  Nanny, pushing separate baby stroller	2.  Girl, standing with arms raised	3.  Girl, drying dishes	4.  Baby, walking with doll and blocks

5.  Boy, baseball pitcher	6.  Boy, baseball catcher	7.  Boy, baseball batter	8.  Boy, brushing teeth

9.  Boy, squatting with sand pail and shovel	10.  Baby, crawling	11.  Girl, sitting with powder puff in right hand	12 and 13.  Girl petting separate kitten

     Pool Kids

The pool kids and accessories came with all of the three types of doll house swimming pools made by Marx (as depicted earlier on this page).  Pools were sold as separate accessories and also included in a few of the large doll house sets.  The two children and the accessories shown below were made in the same mold, generally in a cream vinyl.

1.  Boy, diving	2.  Girl, sitting

3.  Inflatable  life saver	4.  Inflatable duck

5. Sail boat one inch high	6.  Ladder for swimming pool

7. Diving board for swimming pool

     Swing Set Kids

Marx made a variety of playground equipment for their doll houses, including a set of playground equipment shown earlier on this page.  This set included a swing set with two swing set figures, as seen below and on the swing set accessories shown above.  These were made in the same mold as the playground equipment, which I have generally seen in a light blue plastic or pink.

1.  Boy on swing	2.  Girl on swing

     Figure Group for the Imagination Doll House

One of the strangest doll houses Marx made was called the Imagination Doll House, which was constructed of modular pieces, rather than the usual tin litho structure.  The photo of the house at the left is from Larraine Elcock's All Dolled Up web site.  Its pieces can be assembled in various ways to create very different houses.  As far as figures, the set included the 1960s family shown above, but also had three additional figures that are more difficult to find today.

Father, sitting with pipe	Mother, sitting with legs crossed	Daughter, sitting with right hand on knee
Photos above courtesy of Russian collector Denis Rylev

     Flexible Joints Doll House Group

 One final group of figures is the company's doll house family that came in pieces attached to a sprue.  Four of the six figures had to be put together rather like a snap-together model.  Once together, shoulders and knees could bend so that the figures could be placed in a standing or sitting position.  Bases were included to keep the figures upright when standing.

Two of the figures -- a younger sister and baby -- were solid pieces and not flexible.  The girl was positioned on one of the sprues as shown below; I am uncertain whether the baby was also on one of the four sprues or if perhaps it came from a separate sprue.

I am uncertain how these unusual figures were sold. 

	1.  Father
Instruction Sheet Photo provided by collector Bruce Bennett, Ebay brbjasper	2.  Mother With 1-piece younger daughter, not flexible - also shown at right Baby at right appears to have not been loose in box, not on a sprue		Baby Not flexible

3.  Son	4.  Daughter

     Doll House Animals (PL-80)

Other than the hunting dogs and fox that came with one doll house set that had Fox Hunt figures, collector Kent Sprecher's web site notes that Marx produced four animal pets for its doll houses in the early 1950s.  Made with one of the company's first molds, these were the dogs and cats shown below, made in a Disney-like cartoon style.  The figures I have were made in vinyl, but Kent reports that they can also be found in hard plastic.

As shown, the lying cat is slightly larger than the walking cat, and the lying dog is the largest of the four.  The two walking animals are 1-1/2 inches long, the lying ones about 1-3/4 inches long.  All four are attractive little figures, but are difficult to find.  Other toy manufacturers, such as Thomas Toys, made some very similar figures that can be difficult to differentiate from the Marx figures.
  
Some other dogs that are on the Pet Shop and the Other Animals pages also were in a few doll houses, but I am unsure which specific ones were used.

Dog 1-1/8 inches tall	Dog, standing	Cat, lying	Cat, walking one inch to top of tail

Accessory Sprue

Marx made accessory sprues for several of its playsets.  These are plastic runners with various small playset-related items attached.  These can be cut or broken off the sprue and add to both the fun and realism of playing with the set.  They also added greatly to the "piece count" for the playset, a figure which was used to increase sales of a set.  After all, would you rather have a set with 100 pieces or 150 pieces in it?  And, no, back in those days, we were not smart enough to ask how big the pieces were!

Some of the doll house sets included a doll house sprue as shown below.  Of course, once removed from the sprue, these tiny items were among the first items lost.  So today, they are hard to find.  I recall receiving a couple of the items when I started seriously collecting back in 2002, but I had no idea what they were.  Now if I can figure out what I did with them....

Doll House Accessory Sprue Photo courtesy of Kent Sprecher of Toy Soldier HQ	Coffee pot from sprue 1/2 inch tall

     Trees and plants




     Vehicles

  

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