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1980 Noel Thomas | The Tower House | #66 | Victorian


Aaron

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Hi Greenleafs

This house has been in our family since 1980 and was untouched until my Mom started working on it in 2011. On December 23rd 2013 my Mom passed away from a sudden heart attack and left me this house along with an extensive collection of miniature building materials, miniature tools, a massive collection of miniature furniture and more. The house is unfinished, looks to be wired for electrical, roofs not finished, interior is untouched with the exception of wiring. I have boxes and boxes of miniature furniture, enough to furnish this whole house and then some. I have all the building materials she used on the exterior including slate tiles, real mini bricks (cool), brass rain gutters, English slate for the roof and a HUGE collection of trim and moldings. My mom was fanatical about Victorian stuff lol.

Currently going through all the boxes and documenting everything then it will all be for sale/auction.

Lots of pictures at http://instagram.com/lcdminiatures

I'll be posting more pics in the coming days ...

:Jumpy:

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Aaron, you should have made your posting here: http://www.greenleafdollhouses.com/forum/index.php?showforum=49 but I'm sure one of our bright-eyed mods will move it for you. (SELL your late mom's treasure? Why don't you take up the miniature addiction hobby and start by finishing off the house yourself as a tribute to your mother, and keep it as a momento?)

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Aaron, I'm so sorry for the loss of your mother. It's obvious from the photos that she had a great love for this hobby as well as an abundance of skill and patience. It's a beautiful house. The details are amazing. If you're not inclined to finish and keep it, then finding a good home for it is the right thing to do. :hug:

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Aaron, I'm so sorry for your loss!

About the house... make sure you let Noel and Pat know:

http://www.thomasopenhouse.com/contact.html

They sometimes mention a sale on their blog ( http://smallhousepress.me ), to let true addicts know—so that it goes to the best possible home.

By the way, you might enjoy the mention of the birth of this kit on their blog:

http://smallhousepress.me/2011/07/08/when-whats-old-was-new/

Your mother did a wonderful job with it. It's got such personality—a real treasure.

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Adding my condolences to you and your family as well.

What a stunning house you have been left with. It's a treasure for sure and worth a considerable price. The house itself, the quality of the workmanship, and the furnishings should be able to fetch a decent sum. It is truly a collector piece. I know it would be out of my budget.

It is too bad there are not some family members that would like to finish it in her memory but I know that is how it would be in my family with my collection. No one else is really interested in it except me.

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It is too bad there are not some family members that would like to finish it in her memory but I know that is how it would be in my family with my collection. No one else is really interested in it except me.

This is what keeps mini-addicts awake at night. My daughter was an addict in training for a long time, but teenage has muscled in so that she only stands on the edges of her old hobbies and peeks in... I'm not sure who she'll be at the end of this tunnel, so I fear I may end up in the same boat. o.O

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All my grands have done miniature projects over the course of growing up and Twinkle has stuck with it longer but I doubt any of them would pursue it any further than considering it a childhood memory of hanging out with Gram and having fun as a child. Twinkle is the closest one to sticking with it but I don't think she would accomplish much if I wasn't around. Not to sound self important, but I'm the driving force behind what gets accomplished.

Well I guess that's what they invented auctions and dumpster for. My kids will go the dumpster route. At least this young man is going the auction route which makes it seem a little more sacred.

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Aaron, I am so sorry for your loss, and I appreciate your trying to find a good home for this gorgeous house. I too would like someone in your family to have it, but a house like this needs to be loved and appreciated, and I am sure that is what your mother would want.

I haven't seen a dollhouse quite like this one, and the details are amazing. I particularly like the brick on the chimney, and I also love the color of the house. Please post more pictures, as I would love to see the interior.

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I'm so sorry for the loss of your mother,Aaron. Everyone handles grief and its aftermath differently. You are obviously very respectful of her to let fellow dollhousers know about this treasure trove! I know she would be happy that you did not put it all away in storage somewhere to languish unseen for years. Thank you for the opportunity for us here to share a peek into this talented lady's legacy! I hope it will find a home with someone with equivalent talent and passion for it! Best regards,Kat

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Wow, gorgeous. Your mom did a beautiful job.

I think as long as you're just posting pictures and info about the house we can leave it in this forum, but if you decide to post the details of the auction that should go in the Community Trading Post. Also emailing the Thomases is a great idea.

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Sorry for your loss Aaron...

A Noel Thomas dollhouse is good place to start...

Your mom added very unique & beautiful trim to the house - its spectacular!

...Hope it gets a deserving home :)

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Just a clarification. I spoke with Pat Thomas 2 or 3 years ago about the Tower House and this is what I learned. Pat and Noel did not build the Tower Houses that are occasionally found on craigslist and other places for sale. They gave permission to a gentleman (forgot his name) who lived in the Northeast to build a house similar to their Gray's River house. The Tower House was only available as assembled shells. The big difference here is that the houses Pat and Noel built were one of a kind, finished inside and out when they were delivered to their new ownerss at a cost of thousands and thousands of dollars. They never offered unfinished shells for sale, unfortunately. The Tower House is often misidentified as a Joseph Angel although they are quite different.

Aaron, the house is stunning! Your mother obviously was a very talented lady.

P.S. Found my notes. The Gray's River was modified for the "do-it-yourselfer". Ray Urh was the builder of the Tower Houses and they were distributed by Mr. Peepers Miniatures in Seattle. I have seen this house advertised as the Mr. Peppers house also.

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Hi everyone :D

Thank you for all of the condolences and wonderful remarks about my moms house. I am really happy I was able to find this forum and share her work with all of you. As some of you suggested, I have thought about finishing this house but to be honest I don't have the time or skills to complete it to the specifications it deserves. My mom was a bit of a perfectionist in her work and I could never reach her level of craftsmanship / knowledge of period specific interior / exterior design.

Right now I am in the process of going through all these boxes of miniatures. I think she might have been obsessed with collecting fine miniatures lol. A lot of the boxes say 'Made in England' and the contents look to be very nice indeed. Looks to be mostly Victorian items. I need to spend some time and find out what all of this is worth as a complete package. If any of you experts have any insight into the possible value of the house please chime in.

I'll post more pictures tonight. If anyone is on instagram you can follow the house @lcdminiatures http://instagram.com/lcdminiatures

I will let Noel and Pat know about the house tonight!

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Just a clarification. I spoke with Pat Thomas 2 or 3 years ago about the Tower House and this is what I learned. Pat and Noel did not build the Tower Houses that are occasionally found on craigslist and other places for sale. They gave permission to a gentleman (forgot his name) who lived in the Northeast to build a house similar to their Gray's River house. The Tower House was only available as assembled shells. The big difference here is that the houses Pat and Noel built were one of a kind, finished inside and out when they were delivered to their new ownerss at a cost of thousands and thousands of dollars. They never offered unfinished shells for sale, unfortunately. The Tower House is often misidentified as a Joseph Angel although they are quite different.

Aaron, the house is stunning! Your mother obviously was a very talented lady.

P.S. Found my notes. The Gray's River was modified for the "do-it-yourselfer". Ray Urh was the builder of the Tower Houses and they were distributed by Mr. Peepers Miniatures in Seattle. I have seen this house advertised as the Mr. Peppers house also.

Hi Queenannediva,

This is correct. Check out the plate on the house :ohyeah:

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... Pat and Noel did not build the Tower Houses that are occasionally found on craigslist and other places for sale. They gave permission to a gentleman (forgot his name) who lived in the Northeast to build a house similar to their Gray's River house. ...

Yep. The blog post I linked to (up above) explains this. A cool evolution from OOAK to semi-production. :)

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Beautiful house, Aaron!

There are still a lot of Mr. Peeper houses here in the Puget sound. There was one someone was trying to sell on Craig's List for ages. I have seen them mistakenly referred to as being a Tower House, but the real ones always have a metal tag on the side.

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This house is beautiful and you can tell that your mom put a lot of love into it. I'm sure it will be painful to part with something that has so much of her built into it. I agree with the folks that suggested that you hold onto it and finish her vision. On the flip side, if you are determined to part with it, do your homework. The house will no doubt fetch a big sum of money and it sounds like she invested large in furnishings too. Dont sell it short of its worth. My heart hurts for you. What you are doing is a very painful process. My condolences.

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You might also consider selling the house unfurnished and sell the furniture in smallish lots; you're a lot liklier to realize some of their worth than if you try to sell all of it to a single buyer.

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You might also consider selling the house unfurnished and sell the furniture in smallish lots; you're a lot liklier to realize some of their worth than if you try to sell all of it to a single buyer.

That's a really good point, Holly. There are miniatures folks who check ebay specifically for the term "estate," or the term "lot" (and I think there's still a "Lots" section, as well)... and since I never seem to win any of those, I get the impression that smallish lots do sell better than ones that require a huge investment.

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There's no second guessing what will sell. A friend and I "helped" someone in charge of an estate sale by dividing up the contents of a largish house into smaller room lots, accessory lots, individual pieces, etc. The day after the sale the person in charge informed us that a potential buyer who knew the original house had turned up wanting to buy the house with all of the contents. So, were we helpful? Not much.

Each of us knows what would appeal to us in a sale but we really can't know what's in the mind of someone else.

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So true, Kathie. And you bring up another good point for Aaron to consider, which is that his mother may have had friends who were also miniaturists, and friends know friends, and speaking to them could be a far better way to entrust this lovely home and its contents to a new owner than any public sale.

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