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Case study

Condition checking Queen Mary's Dolls' House

Watch a film showing the condition checking of Queen Mary's Dolls' House

Queen Mary's Dolls' House (RCIN 231999) has been on display at Windsor Castle since 1925. In early 2016, after more than 90 years, the house was closed for two weeks for a condition and inventory check of its structure and contents. 

Working on a room-by-room basis, each of the miniature objects in the house was removed for condition assessment, light cleaning and photography, and to be inventoried. Any items requiring immediate conservation were also treated by in-house conservators. The emptied rooms were meanwhile cleaned and examined for signs of structural change, and new lightbulbs fitted as necessary.

The information gathered will support planning for the ongoing care and display of the Dolls' House.

You can learn more about the condition-check in this short film.

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Objects in this case study

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Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens (1869-1944)
Queen Mary's Dolls' House 1921-24
  • Queen Mary's Dolls' House Display Area, Windsor Castle
RCIN 231999

Queen Mary's Dolls' House was created as a 1:12 scale miniature royal palace or town house as a gift from the nation to Queen Mary. The House, with a façade in the style of Sir Christopher Wren or Inigo Jones, is operated by a mechanism in the basement and lifts up entirely to reveal the house within, visible in the round. The House incorporates...

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