Evening star., 1943-11-10
Miniature Rooms
BY Marsaref NoweH

Many young girl dreams about
the house she will some day own.
Often at the ripe old age of 16 she is
wandering through the shops and
making scrapbooks of the rooms
and the furniture that appeal to
her. From the age OF 10, when she
changes the dollhouse furnishings
every three months, to the time
when she no longer has the strength
to push the chairs and tables around
without help, her home is of vital
and never-ending interest. All of
these girls will be interested in see
ing the three-dimensional pictures
Of the perfect miniature rooms, Gre
ated by Mrs. James Ward Thorne,
which will be shown here in WASH
ington beginning yesterday through
Friday.
Years ago Mrs. Thorne started o
remarkable collection of miniatures
as a hobby. As other artists filled
their studios with canvases she
built completely furnished miniature
rooms. With a score Of skilled arti-
sans to help her, each room, meticu-
lously scaled inch to l foot, grew in
perfection. Everything worked. The
grandfather clock, perfect in each
detail, had not only a face and
hands but swinging pendulum and
could be wound. The tea tray before
the firelace had a miniature silver
tea service and tiny cups and saul
GERS. From the most minute work.
ing part, including door hinges and
keys that turned, each item in the
room was made according to scale.
Mrs. Thorne's rooms created so
much interest at the last three
Worlds Fairs that there was in
creasing demand to exhibit them all
over the country. However, the
problem Of packing and shipping
these tiny treasures is so great that
only the largest centers could be
reached. Now her whole collection
OF 81 perfect rooms has been pre-
sented to the Art Institute of Chi
cago. Remarkable three dimension
al pictures have been made of
these-to be shown in Washington
this week. Whether you are of doll
house age or have home Of your
own to play with you will be unable
to resist the perfection of these
charming rooms.
The pictures are shown in a most
unusual way. Photographs of the
rooms in all their lovely jewel like
colors are thrown on a screen. Each
person in the audience is given
pair Of magic spectacle" and with
these will see the objects In the
rooms take form and depth This is
fascinating fun, and you will tiud
yourself leaning forward to see be-
hind screens and around corners,
feeling that you are actually in the
room.
The originals OF these rooms were
reproduced in miniature from those
in famous homes in the United
States. One of them is the entrance
hall at Carriers Grove In Virginia
David Minitree, famous architect
Of the early 18th century, was Sc
lected to come from England to
handle this commission for the Car
ter family, which was most un-
usual. Most Of the large plantatio
owners either had the architects
plans drawn in England and carried
out the building as best they could
or both designed and built their
homes supervising the workmen
themselves
Mrs. Thorne selected each room
for some outstanding detail, such
as paneling. fine stairway, stem
ciled walls, as we'll as its furniture.
Her tiny Cape Cod cottage has all
the simple nominees which we ex-
pect of that era. The paneling,
cornice and woodwork, designed by
Samuel Mcntire, the shipbuilder
turned cabinetmaker, from Salem,
Mass, is included in the group.
You would now have to travel to
Boston Fine Arts Museum to find
the original.