Once upon a time, every little girl's holiday wish list had a dollhouse on it. Sturdy and stately, these real-life replicas took their diminutive owners into the grown-up world of home ownership, complete with silent but cute children and stiff but obedient pets.

        How times have changed.

        Dollhouses in 2000 are high-tech masterpieces — sleek, oversized monuments of the day's lifestyles.

Bozart Toys' Kaleidoscope Dollhouse | ZOOM |

        A new top-of-the-line example is Bozart Toys' Kaleidoscope Dollhouse, available through catalogs and museums. Bozart's president Larry Mangol says he wanted to merge his past in the fine arts world with his present as head of a progressive toy manufacturer.

        Mr. Mangol asked a well-known photographer friend, Laurie Simmons, to work on the project, and she contacted architect Peter Wheelwright. A signature for the house is that the poseable adult “residents” have the likenesses of Ms. Simmons and Mr. Wheelwright.

        Soon the project grew to include some of America's most famous artists and designers.

        “We wanted to expose children to fine art and get objects like the dollhouse out to children,” Mr. Mangol says. “This all started because Laurie couldn't find many modern dollhouses to shoot (photograph). We ended up with a beautiful, functional house furnished by artists like Dakota Jackson, Peter Halley and Mel Kendrick.”

The ultramodern living room furniture for the Kaleidoscope Dollhouse. | ZOOM |

        While the house is about $200, each room's furnishings can cost up to $30. For example, the $14 “artwork” set includes paintings by Mr. Halley and Carroll Dunham, photographs by Cindy Sherman and Ms. Simmons and a distinctive wood sculpture by Mr. Kendrick.
       

Creating a world

       

        This type dollhouse may be an exception, but most children today are playing with updated dollhouses. Some of these contemporary-style dollhouses were created for their more identifiable inhabitants.

        For example, the popular doll series, American Girl, introduced AG Minis, a collection of three Illuma-Rooms with fashionable but diminutive furniture, and a horse stable, complete with hay, water bucket and rooster. Although the rooms are too small for the American Girl dolls to fit inside, each room honors the AG spirit of creating a new world of possibilities.

The Kaleidoscope Dollhouse's dining room furniture. | ZOOM |

        Each of the AG Mini room furnishings sets comes with tiny lamps that work. The rooms cost $48 each, a storage drawer that fits under the rooms goes for $32, and each room's furniture and decorations cost up to $102. (Food and jukeboxes for the diner cost an additional $18.)

        One dollhouse still going strong is Barbie's Dream House. Today's version has evolved from a circa-1961 folded cardboard portable home with cardboard furniture to a bright plastic, spacious creation with working elevator.

        The $90 millennial edition Dream House includes a working doorbell, canopy bed, Victorian-style tub, kitchen with pull-out table and seat and a high chair and crib for Barbie's baby sister Krissy.

Adult customers

       

        So if these are the popular toy-store versions of the dollhouse, who is playing with the romantic ideal of the dollhouse, the Victorian-style home furnished with miniature pieces of period furniture?

        Sandy Flinker at Mini Splendid Things in Covington, says 80 percent of her dollhouse customers are adults.

The traditional Victorian-style doll home | ZOOM |

        “We consider it a serious hobby,” says Ms. Flinker, who opened her store 18 years ago after finding it difficult to furnish a dollhouse given to her by her twin sister.

        “Most of my women customers say they either wanted (a dollhouse) when they were younger and didn't get one, or had one and wanted to buy and furnish a new one. Some buy them because they have all boys in the house and don't have a daughter.”

        Thirty percent of Ms. Flinker's customers are men.

        “Some are doctors and lawyers. They say they collect miniatures as an outlet to relax and be creative,” she says. “Couples come in, too, the man more reluctantly at first. When they come back to the store, they'll be fighting over what to put in the dollhouse next.”

SOURCES

• The Kaleidoscope Dollhouse is available from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York at moma.org; at the Dayton Art Institute, (800) 296-4426; www.daytonartinstitute.org, and at COSI in Columbus, (614) 228-2674; cosi.org.     • American Girl products are available through (800) 845-0005;www.americangirlstore.com.

        Ms. Flinker says money is no object when it comes to collectors getting what they want. Dollhouse prices range according to the depth of the collector's interest. She knows a Tristate collector who this fall had one of her houses appraised for $40,000.

        Generally, a Victorian-style dollhouse construction kit sells for $90-$1,000; kits to finish the house are priced $200-$2,000.

        Be prepared to fork over at least $2,000 to buy a finished period-style house. Furnishing sets range $15-$120.
       

Dollhouse timeline

       

        The first recorded dollhouse was commissioned in 1558 by Albrecht V, Duke of Bavaria, for his daughter. He was reported to be so taken with the meticulous design and beauty that he placed it in his museum and only allowed his daughter to play with the house on rare occasions.

        It was destroyed by fire, but the Duke had the foresight to have the entire structure and its contents inventoried to record its existence.

        By the 19th century, these “baby houses,” as they were called, became cheaper to produce and purchase and more accessible to children. Most of these Victorian-style houses were produced in the United States, France and Scandinavia.

        German and French toy makers led the industry in furniture miniatures. The painstaking attention to detail in the craftsmanship of each chair, utensil, bed and kitchen pan made these intricately replicated houses timeless markers of man's ingenuity and his infinite love of possessions.

        These creations are now highly sought-after and treasured by collectors around the world.

        Dollhouses continued to thrive in popularity until World War II. Up to that point, the only major changes made to the houses were the addition of garages and reduction of the kitchen size. Fewer real-life homes had servants, so kitchens were scaled down for the “woman of the house,” and the dollhouses followed suit.

        During WWII, the war in Europe and the rationing of metal made it impossible for the miniature industry to continue. The dollhouse appeal did not return until the 1950s, when affluence resumed. Dollhouses began to feature refrigerators, washing machines and other industrial wonders many of their life-size owners could not afford in their own homes.

        The expansion of the middle class also gave parents the opportunity to give their children things they could not have. Their desired economic status was reflected in the dollhouses they bought for their children.

        However, that popularity was short-lived with the advent of the “age of free love,” the 1960s. Young girls became more interested in living a grown-up life than fantasizing with dolls and toys. Enter the glamorous world of Barbie, complete with the single life of a dream house, sports car, high fashion and adventurous jobs.

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