German Houses — callsmall — Call of the Small

Oh, boy, this is a beaut! I first saw Haus Kathrin when I was researching the origin of some vintage German furniture I bought on US eBay. Annina pointed me to a page on the puppenhausmuseum website as she found the source, a stunning DDR two-level abode from the early 1960s with a garage and patio. I love the lines and design touches in the doors and windows. While some of the wallpaper and flooring looks damaged, it otherwise appears to be in nice vintage condition -- even the awning is intact! Sigh. A few shots:

I can only dream on this one, since it just appeared on German eBay and will likely go for a pretty hefty sum; it's already up above 20 Euros. My guess is close to 200 Euros. Enjoy more eye candy on German eBay, while the auction lasts.

UPDATE, 3/4/10: The house sold for a whopping 558 Euros (nearly $765.00)!! It looks like there were fifteen bidders and twenty-two bids. The lucky winner swooped in at the last minute to secure the future of this lovely house. I wonder if it was a museum or another collector.

Images courtesy of the eBay listing.

Little by little, I am gathering more clues and information on my VERO house. I saw a house on German eBay this week that looked very similar to my house, and communicated with the seller about it, who dates it to the 1970s. She also sent some additional pictures, which are unfortunately very small.

She wrote: The house looks really like mine ;) wow. It could be clue on the door, what I remember was a plastic glass on it. And after a long time ago we made new wallpaper on the walls, and I drew a pic of a house on the side of the house, but with new color and wallpaper you can renovate the house. I had a lot of fun when I was a child with this house, I just played with it on Christmas time. It's about 1 meters long I think. It was big to me. I´ve really no idea if it´s from "Vero." It looks almost like this from "Moritz Gottschalk." Upstairs I had the kitchen and the living room, and downstairs I had the bathroom and sleeping room.

It's interesting to hear about the door, so it seems very plausible that some plastic was used in the opening to simulate glass. The second floor of my house has a wall of windows, whereas this one does not, and in this way, her house does strongly resemble the Gottschalk house on the Puppenhausmuseum website. The door is very similar, as is the layout, but given the wallpapers and flooring were changed, it is difficult to tell what might be the same.

I felt a bit encouraged by this, but was even more happy to receive a very big clue from Annina, who pointed out this house on eBay now. Wow.

THIS looks like my house! The seller did not have too much to say on it, only that her father bought it for the family in the 70s or earlier, and they have been the only owners. It is apparent to me that the bathroom paper and flooring is not original, nor is the chimney in the same paper. In the listing, the seller states that her father set up an additional room on the roof with lighting, so perhaps that is why this appears here. The other wallpapers, however, offer some interesting clues. I do see some resemblance to my papers, although the flooring looks different.

It is great to see the corner of windows, although my window panes have a different design. And there is a lovely window box under the first floor window, confirming my hunch! The shutters and window frame look identical to mine, and I can see the type of windowpane used. Also, it does look like a terrace with a window is what used to be on the top floor, also verifying my hunch!! This may mean that I try to replicate this simple terrace design.

I was interested to see the pink flowered window drapes in this house, which resemble my blue ones. I did not think mine were original to the house, but perhaps they are! Seeing this door was revealing to me as well, since it looks like an exact match to mine, and there was a panel of glass on the inside -- that is clear in this picture.

Images are from eBay listing.

All in all, it is nice to see such a similar house, although it would be nice to have some verification on the maker and the year. Perhaps my house is from the 1970s, not 60s, and I do wonder about the variations on this particular style of house. This detective hunting has sparked my interest in other vintage German houses, especially the ones I am seeing on eBay. I have been compiling images and information and may put them in a future post.

UPDATE, 12/23/09: The "twin" to my VERO sold for a little over 11 Euros, a lot less than I paid for mine, but it was local pickup only. The other house sold for 30 Euros.

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