I was first introduced to miniatures by my great grandfather, Jacob C. Knupp, who designed and built my first dollhouse when I was five. I didn't know how unique it was until I began looking at house kits to build.
The dollhouse is colonial style, and opens in the front and back. It is just like a real house, with rooms in front of each other. The front walls are hinged to open, and the house turns to open in the back. There are four rooms in front, four rooms in back, two halls, and the roof is hinged for attic access. I have it decorated in a late Victorian/Early Edwardian style.
The house is a constant work-in-progress, and also my "play" house. I grew up playing with it, and I intend to keep it play safe for everyone!
The outside of the house.
Click on the pictures below for a closer look.
Partial Update - 05/25/03
I came up with this idea several years ago, and couldn't get it out of my head. This being a double sided house, I have to work with rooms in places that aren't normally there in standard houses. Particularly between the front Parlor and the Back Parlor. (Or, as I call them in my head, the living room and the room next to the kitchen. I don't know what should BE in that room!) In both of those rooms my great-grandfather built two entryways, no doors. It makes it awkward to place furniture, and while fascinating to be able to see both at the same time, it's still a difficult area.
My solution? Pocket Doors! There was no way I could remove that whole wall, or close it up without doing major damage to the house. Normal doors would take up too much space. Pocket doors, however, would be an interesting architectural feature that would enable me to shut these rooms off from each other but still maintain the entryway. One problem - how do I make them and make them functional with as few changes to the house as possible? I puzzled over it for ages. Then I saw, at Miniatures in the Attic in Falls Church, VA, a kit for pocket doors. It was two walls joined together with space in between for the doors and tracking. Light dawned, gears started turning. Naturally, this house, built with tender loving care, isn't to scale with anything premade. 
Enough rambling. I have finally gotten up the nerve to make the doors, design the tracking, the second false wall and the hardest part of all, removing the molding from the back parlor. (Let me stress, this house is VERY WELL BUILT!) I'm very pleased with the results. They fit (of course, they were custom made!) they work (although they do need handles of some sort) and they're done! I can't install them yet, as I now need to redesign the whole room. Tearing out the molding did quite a bit of cosmetic damage, not to mention ruined the molding itself! When the room is finished I'll post more pictures.
My Houses.
The Knupp House A turn-about house by J.C. Knupp
The Willowcrest A house-in-progress
1/144" Victorian Bay House A dollhouse - for your dollhouse
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