Dollhouse kits as we know them proliferated from the mid-1970s onward. Before that, there were... well, there were a lot of things. This posting is an effort to document what some of those things were, but it won't pretend to be complete for quite a while. In many cases, the only examples I can find are on auction and antique sites, so I've used eBay searches as the links.

Wood with Lithographs: way back when

I'll need to visit a library to figure out where to start... other than with Bliss dollhouses, which had lithographed paper on wood, plus elaborate wood trim. Windows and doors were lithographed designs, rather than holes in the wall. (The site is sellling modern houses that use a Bliss-like design, as did some of the works of Barbara and Elizabeth Mott in the 1970s.)

Gottschalk houses were also made with lithographed exteriors but did have cut-out windows and doors. Gottschalk also made wooden furniture.

Scale for these houses... it varies... from house to house... and sometimes within the same house. If you're going to invest in an original Bliss or Gottschalk house, you may as well plan on spending your children's inheritance on tracking down the period furniture.

Cardboard: 1920s to 1930s? 1970s? Who knows?

This is new to me. Apparently Warren Paper Products of Lafayette, Indiana, made cardboard houses with cardboard/paper furniture. Bilt-Rite also made cardboard buildings.

Another maker I just found on eBay is Handi Craft, which made a six-room cardboard house with three small front gables, two chimneys and lithographed details. I agree with the seller that the little girl on the box seems to belong to the early 1970s. The scale is 1:18.

Fiberboard: 1930s to 1970s

As you can see from the shots on nursemini's and amyhoey's sites, fiberboard houses had lithographed architecture and decor on a thin material similar to masonite. Some seem to have had metal or wood trim. Manufacturers I've found so far (thanks to these sites) include Keystone, Rich, and Melco. Judging from the little I've seen, Keystone houses used relatively conservative designs, similar to the tin litho houses of the 1950s, while Rich produced a range that included a Southern Plantation and a Stockbroker Tudor. But wait, there's more! Deluxe Game Corp. also made a fiberboard house, but they called their material "tekwood."

The scale looks to be on the small side of 1:18 (maybe closer to 1:20 or 1:22), which would be consistent with Strombecker, Kage, and Nancy Forbes wooden furniture, as well as with Tootsietoy metal furniture. Schoenhut wooden furniture of the same period seems to run closer to true 1:18. Schoenhut also made at least one house with lithography on what looks like fiberboard.

It turns out that, as late as the 1970s, Brumberger was making masonite houses with lithographed exteriors. As always, Barbigirl's site (see tin litho, below) has the scoop.

The British Houses: 1920s to 1960s

It's unclear whether there was any U.S. equivalent to the British suburban homes produced by Triang and Gee Bee. The older houses seem to be metal or wood with metal windows. Some sellers refer to the designs as "paintwork," but they sure look like lithography in the photos. Triang made a line of mod plastic furniture called "Spot On. "Scale seems to be 1:18, though I wouldn't be surprised if some houses ran smaller. Triang houses were often -- but not always -- electrified. Another British source of appropriate furniture is Dol-Toi.

A factoid of mild interest: Triang made a replica of The Little House at Royal Lodge, the British royal family's Welsh vacation retreat when Queen Elizabeth II was a child.

1:8 for Ginny and Friends: 1940s and 1950s

Go here to be whomped upside the head with vintage 1:8 furniture for Ginny, Ginger, Muffy, and friends. Furniture seems to be metal, wood, or plastic, depending on the year and maker. I'm too overwhelmed by the site to figure out if there were houses as well as furniture.

Tin Litho: 1947 to 1970s

Metal dollhouses, sold in flat boxes and ready for assembly, appeared on the U.S. market once metal was no longer in demand for World War II. The earliest houses are all metal, so if you see plastic window frames or other detailing, the house most likely dates from the late 1960s or later. This wonderful, comprehensive site documents many of the Marx buildings, as well as substantial amounts of T. Cohn and other makers.

Scale varies. The Small Rancher apparently came with 1:24 furniture, but when I owned one, it looked best with the most delicate vintage plastic furniture, closer to 1:30. Many of the Marx houses are 1:24, but the T. Cohn houses work at 1:18, and the Marxie Mansion is 1:16. Plastic furniture from Renwal, Plasco, and Ideal was widely available in 1:18, and Marx also produced the other needed scales. Fantasy-mod Petite Princess furniture also dates from this period (and there was a 1:24 Petite Princess knock-off). It's also worth noting that some houses that came with 1:24 plastic furniture -- but seem a bit tall for it -- look fabulous with the Strombecker and Schoenhut wooden furniture of a slightly earlier era.

There are rumors of British houses under the name Mettoy, and the Canadians had the fabulous Eagle octagon house.

Fold Aways and Plastic Gimmicks: 1950s and 1960s

The Post-War years were fascinated with folding. I've found a few paper folding dollhouses from the 1950s on eBay. These folded out from a book-like shape and came with paper furniture. One named company is Norstar.

Early 1960s fold-aways were top-openers in cardboard or plastic. I had the MPC six-room "Fold A Way Doll House" -- I'd recognize that plastic furniture anywhere. Miner Industries made a different fold-away. (I'm hoping these come up on eBay often enough to provide a live link -- they're hard to find online.) These houses were approximately 1:18.

There was also a cardboard playhouse that opened on three sides. I know about it only because I had it, and I have a vague sense that it was in the 1:18 range on scale. A lucky encounter with an eBay seller who's liquidating a personal collection determined that there were several houses of this ilk. Makers included Winthrop-Atkins Co. of Middleboro, Mass., as well as South Bend (a Milton-Bradley company). These came with paper furniture.

One of my favorite houses turns out to be a Remco Mary MagPower House from the mid-1960s. It's plastic with plastic furniture, and very mod. The scale is about 1:36 (I'm basing that estimate on memory). I'm not sure what it's allure was, but it was an important ritual to set up all the walls, then organize the furniture into the rooms. Maybe I just like top-opening houses.

The swinging sixties closed with Marx's Imagination Dollhouse, an attempt to update dollhouse life in bright-color transparent plastic, with plastic modular furniture in an annoying olive green. I had one of these, too. I never liked it as much as the makers would have wished, but I still think it's more clever than the recent architect-designed Kaleidescope House.

Lundby and Smaller Home: the 1970s

Swedish company Lundby introduced a modern home in the late 1960s. The scale is 1:18. Though the house is plastic, some of the furniture is wood. House decor and furnishings have changed over time, as this site shows. (It also documents Brio houses that I don't recall seeing in the U.S.) This article talks about how Lundby's design shifted over time from being "modern" to becoming "traditional."

Smaller Home was a Tomy product circa 1980 and had wonderful modern plastic furniture. It was also 1:18, as was Fisher Price Dollhouse #250 from 1978-1981. Again, the furniture is plastic and "modern."