Art Deco - The latest Miniature Display by the North London Miniaturists

The North London Miniaturists work exclusively in 1/24th scale for club projects, although  most of us also have 1/12th and other scale houses too - safe to say most of us are pretty obsessed with miniatures. Our display for the December Kensington Dolls House Christmas Show was set in the 1930's inter-war Art Deco period. The houses were displayed with their fronts removed so that you could look inside. The external details and colourful interiors are as accurate as we could manage within the confines of 1/24th scale.

The bulidings themselves are all completely scratch built using board and card and whatever we find that works. Most of the contents including the people are also hand made. There are some obvious limits to our talents, however, and the vehicles are dicast miniatures in 1/24th scale by Burago!

EALING, WEST LONDON

We moved into our 1930's house in Ealing, London in 1980, it was a typical three bed semi with a shared drive. All the houses in the area were of the same style, some had been improved by the installation of double glazing, others preferred to keep the original wooden windows. Most of the houses had garages of a brick construction with an asbestos roof side by side a the end of the shared drive. The house was a very well apointed family home and we stayed for 21 happy years. Mary

60 HILL CRESCENT

As a little girl, I spent a very happy childhood with my mother and father at 60 Hill Crescent. After we moved away the house was modernised by a succession of new owners. This model is how I remember the exterior, but of course, the interior is how I imagine an ultra-modern Deco family might have lived! I am fairly new to the miniature world, and I have found this a huge challenge, but extremely interesting and very rewarding. Julie

DECO DRIVE

This house is based loosely on a combination of two real houses, one from Frinton Park Estate, Frinton-on-Sea, and the other snapped from the car one day as we drove through the suburbs of Romford in Essex. It is pure early 1930's Art Deco through and through, with furniture copied from pictures of the designs of Saddier or Paris, Paul Frankl, and Frank Lloyd Wright to name a few. It is a house of my imagination, and delightfully a tad 'over the top', although the basic design is very 'ocean liner' and of its time and place in history. I have thoroughly enjoyed this year's rather challenging project. Ann S

129 SPUR ROAD

This house was built in 1932. My parents moved in during 1933, and lived here until 2004. I was born here in 1933 and with my sister, lived in the house until our marriages in the 1950's. It remained without alteration until 2009. The photograph of two ladies and an infant on the front step is of my mother, my grandmother and me as a baby in 1933. Corona

NEW ESTATES SHOW HOME, 1934

This is a show house, designed and built by the 'New Estates' and has latest furniture and fittings. This was inspired by the London transport Museum's 'Metroland' exhibition (Spring 2010), in particular the 'New Estates' magazine. This was a manufacturer's promotional tool, showcasing the lifestyle that would come along with owning an E & L Berg home in one of their many estates around London. The magazine includes maps, photos and articles about the house. There are even articles on film, fashion and beauty, copying, as many furniture catalogues did, the original Sunspan house designed by architect Wells Coates; Berg built them under licence to him. The Sunspan home, we read, 'lets in more sunshine than any house ever built' and was based on the idea that 'home is the place of untrammeled comfort, perpetual ease, increasing delight'. Jules

NAPIER, NEW ZEALAND

This bungalow is based on one I saw this year in New Zealand when I was visiting my daughter. As New Zealand is very earthquake-prone the vast majority of houses are single story - there is planty of space them to expand outwards rather than upwards. There is a thirties town on the east coast - Napier, which was completely destroyed by a massive earthquake in 1929 and rebuilt in the following two years. In the 60's there were plans to redevelop it in a modern style, but some farsighted official came up with the idea of restoring the houses and promoting the period. They now hold a 'Gatsby Weekend' in February which is attended by people from all over the world, in costume and driving appropriate cars, even dancing the Charleston along the promenade! This rather shabby example is lived in by a grumpy old woman who doesn't wish to have anything to do with such goings on! Bunty

ART DECO VILLA

This house was made purely from my own well-researched imagination. The house was made following the same basic size restrictions we all used, and furnished with a selection of handmade Art Deco furniture. This Deco villa even has a roof terrace incorporating a Jacuzzi with real water! Ann P

This feature was the cover story of issue 204 of Dolls House and Miniature Scene magazine. If you've enjoyed reading about the work of this club why not buy yourself a copy of the magazine. Better still, why not take out a subscription so that you never miss an issue.

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