Dollhouse Displat at Cranbury Museum

When Lavada Bunting needed to relax after her long days as a private duty nurse in the 1950s she turned to an all-consuming hobby, creating a doll house and miniature furniture. Thanks to her efforts, her descendants have a family heirloom: an elaborately furnished, nine-room, two-story replica of a Colonial house. The creator’s nephew Bill Bunting, a Cranbury resident and Princeton lawyer, has loaned the Cranbury Historical and Preservation Society this family treasure for display at the Cranbury Museum.

“It’s an idealized version of a house in Burlington, N .J., where my aunt grew up,” Mr. Bunting said. Nine years in the making, the house is a priceless make-believe dwelling that the family has crated and stored over the years, rarely unpacking it for public display.

“No one has ever played with it, it’s not that kind of house,” Mr. Bunting  said. Large for a doll house, the piece has glass panes on all sides so it can be viewed from every angle. Just setting it up takes the Bunting family about 36 hours.

Among its features are a fireplace in its parlor with a mantel carved from Vermont marble, hand-cast veterinary surgical instruments made of silver, and hand-carved furniture. Its cupboards hold a tiny replica of a Wedgwood china service and its hardwood floors are covered with specially made hooked rugs. The house’s roof has more than 1,000 shingles each individually cut. Visitors who peek through a downstairs window can view a staircase leading to a replica of an early indoor bathroom, a luxury for its time.
The basic construction was done by a two Massachusetts artisans, the metalwork by a Boston artist,  and the rugs by a Boston University School of the Theatre craftswoman. But all the furniture –90 pieces in a variety of styles--was made by nurse Bunting, who in her spare time studied under a Swedish designer and carver to perfect her craft.
Also on display at the free exhibit is a collection of dolls from Cranbury Historical and Preservation Society board member Audrey Smith as well as dolls, books and toys on loan from society members Jane Huff and Lynn Lakner. Among the items in the Smith collection are Madame Alexander and Storybook dolls, Raggedy Ann and Andy, and other collectible lines. The 1970s are represented with two English dolls known as “Gregor” and “Sasha” manufactured in London for Creative Playthings.
Visitors are also invited to see the museum’s permanent collections, on display in the two-story museum’s six furnished rooms. The museum is open Sundays from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at 4 Park Place East in historic Cranbury, located in Middlesex County off Route. 130, also near Exit 8A and Exit 8 of the New Jersey Turnpike.  For a map and directions visit www.cranburyhistory.org. For recorded information, call (609) 655-2611.