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Nob Hill dollhouse


shelbylominac

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Well actually I think another company might also have made another house called Nob Hill Dollhouse, so might not be that one! :flowers: duh me

Someone else will be able to help you I'm sure!

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Yes, I have seen the house in person (it is a mini shop I frequent regularly) and I also have the house still in the box. Shellie Kazan, the owner of Shellie's Miniature Mania designed the house back in the 80's after she had been collecting miniatures for many years so she designed the house to accomodate her collection. She actually had blue prints drawn by an architect in order to build the house. I always, as I am sure anyone that visits the shop, has been awed by the house which has sat in her shop for many years. For a long time she sold the blueprints to the house which I purchased a long time ago but not having the proper tools or expertise I never attempted to build it from the plans. A couple of years ago Shellie began offering the house as a kit. She made arrangements with Majestic Mansions to cut the pieces for the kit but you can not buy it from Majestic Mansions only from Shellie (although Majestic Mansions offers a very similar model in 1/2 scale). The kit does not come with instructions but you are provided a set of the blueprints. Of course it is a large house, with large rooms and 12" high ceilings on all three levels. If you love decorating this is the house to have. The March 2008 issue of Miniature Collector has an article on a lady in Southern California that is building the house and she is doing an unbelieveable beautiful job.

The windows Shellie used when she built the house were made by Houseworks but long ago discontinued. I don't understand why as they are so beautiful. Just recently I finally was able to complete my collection of these windows for the house (brand new in the box) off of ebay.

This Nob Hill is not the Nob Hill that was on Friends. There were actually three dollhouses named the Nob Hill. This one by Shellie, a kit produced in the 80's and early 90's by Walmer (this one was the Friends house) and a kit made by Skill-Craft.

Valerie

P.S. When I ordered the house from Shellie she took the plastic protective cover off her house and let me take all kinds of photos. Unfortunately, recently while I was moving, copying, transferring photos, I accidentally deleted the folder with the Nob Hill photos. I will be going back down to the shop sometime in the next 2-3 weeks and will take new photos. I will try to post some then.

I just looked at the blueprints and they are dated March 1982.

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I've seen it in person, too, but didn't know all the history behind it. Very interesting!

Valerie, the last time I went to Shellie's she'd split the store in half between minis and gifts / collectibles -- is this still the case? This must have been a few years ago (I live in Marin now and don't get down there too often). The last time I went I felt like the mini selection had become pretty small compared to how it used to be, which is too bad because it was always a wonderful store with so much to look at.

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I've seen it in person, too, but didn't know all the history behind it. Very interesting!

Valerie, the last time I went to Shellie's she'd split the store in half between minis and gifts / collectibles -- is this still the case? This must have been a few years ago (I live in Marin now and don't get down there too often). The last time I went I felt like the mini selection had become pretty small compared to how it used to be, which is too bad because it was always a wonderful store with so much to look at.

Yes, the store is still split and each time I visit it seems she has added even more of the gift/home decor items. I have never asked her anything about it but I am sure it was a necessary business decision that she had to make to keep everything going. She still has a superb selection of artisan and quality minis. I don't think she will ever give up the mini business as she has been in it too long and seems to love it so much. She does seem to get, on a regular basis, interesting older assembled houses in the shop for sale. Currently she has 3 of them listed on ebay. I am always interested to see what older house she will find next.

Valerie

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Does she still have the line of dollhouse rooms across the one side of her shop? I used to go up there at least once every couple of months when I lived in the Bay Area - I was visiting the shop before she moved to her present site. I just loved looking at that dollhouse. I do know I heard her say once that the one thing she hadn't accounted for were any halls between the rooms. I guess a little boy asked her once how the people got from one room to the other. But the house is really so beautiful, you don't even notice that.

That's the one thing I miss about the Bay Area is all the miniature shops there - or that were there. I guess a lot of them have gone now. Hopefully Shellie's won't be going anytime soon.

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Here are her eBay listings.

I visited the old location a few times, too. I've always loved her store even though most of the eye candy is too pricey for me. Soon after I moved to California for good (after spending a few summers here while I was in college) she moved to the new location, which was only five minutes away from my office. So I used to sneak over there during lunchtime a lot. :)

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 7 years later...
7 hours ago, jennymoomeow said:

Hello,

 

Shellie has this house for sale now. She just listed it in her email newsletter for $5,000 OBO.  I've seen it and it's huge and lovely.  Out of my price range at the moment.

Wow! I’ve seen it too and if it comes with the furnishings, it’s worth every cent of that.

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