World's biggest dolls' house celebrates 100th Anniversary

A special exhibition has opened to mark the 100th anniversary of Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House at Windsor Castle, the largest and most famous dolls’ house in the world.

Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House was built between 1921 and 1924 as a gift from the nation to Queen Mary following the First World War. It is a perfect 1:12 scale replica of an Edwardian residence, complete with electricity, working lifts and running water.

Its scaled-down rooms range from a fully stocked wine cellar and ‘below-stairs’ spaces to grand entertaining salons, and feature contributions from over 1,500 of the finest artists, craftspeople, and manufacturers of the day. The house went on display at Windsor Castle in 1925 and has been delighting visitors ever since.

This year, visitors to the Castle will see a special centenary display of items usually contained within the Dolls’ House, staged in the magnificent Waterloo Chamber. These range from a tiny concert grand piano, fully strung and with functioning keys, to miniature Crown Jewels inset with real diamonds, rubies, sapphires, emeralds and seed pearls. Items from the kitchens and servants’ quarters include a vacuum cleaner, which was a relatively new innovation in the 1920s; a sewing machine, complete with thread and minuscule scissors that can actually cut; and a copper kettle made from a coin, with the King’s head still visible on its base.

The display, open from Thursday, 18 January, allows visitors to get even closer to these tiny treasures and appreciate the extraordinary attention to detail that the craftspeople involved lavished on every miniature item.

Kathryn Jones, curator of the special display, said:

‘Queen Mary's Dolls' House is a constant source of fascination for visitors to Windsor Castle, as irresistible to adults as it is to children. We are thrilled that we can bring the tiny treasures of the Dolls' House to a wider audience in this anniversary year.’

For the first time, the house has been filmed from a ‘dolls’ eye view’ perspective, giving viewers the chance to explore rooms including the Queen’s Bedroom, Library, Kitchen and Day Nursery in closer detail than ever before.

One of the great wonders of the Dolls’ House is its Library, which captured the literary culture of the 1920s through miniature books penned by the era’s foremost writers, from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Vita Sackville-West to A. A. Milne and Thomas Hardy.

The special display of items from the Dolls’ House is included with a ticket to Windsor Castle from 18 January and throughout 2024. Admission to Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House is included in a visit to Windsor Castle.

Windsor Castle is open to visitors Thursday to Monday, remaining closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Tickets and visitor information: www.rct.uk