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June 26, 2009
Wisteria Chateau, a Miniature Passion
Now on Permanent Display at the Faulk Central Library
The Austin Public Library invites you to visit Wisteria Chateau, an elaborate miniature house built and decorated by Marie Anne Osborne. The house is on permanent display at the Faulk Central Library on the first floor in the children’s area. Osborne donated the house to the Library so that the entire community could share its beauty.
Marie Anne Osborne has been working with miniatures since 1980, although her passion began many years before that. As a young girl growing up during the Great Depression, she had few luxuries. One Christmas, Santa Claus brought her a simple set of miniature furniture. She and her father then made a house for the furniture out of some wooden apple boxes. Many years later, after graduating from college, she bought a dollhouse kit and put it together. She then put the furniture inside and began decorating the house.
Years later, married and working as a teacher, Osborne took this first house to her 5th grade students. She asked the children to contribute small objects that were the right size. In this way, she introduced them to the concept of scale. Her husband suggested she build another house and after that there was no stopping her. At first she cut everything with an exacto knife. By the time she created Wisteria Chateau she was using power tools.
Wisteria Chateau is a dollhouse inspired by the Painted Ladies architecture of San Francisco, built to a scale of 1 inch to 1 foot. It has a floor plan very much like a real house. Its staircases are especially remarkable. The staircase from the 1st floor to the 2nd turns twice, so it has two landings. The 1/16th-inch thick treads on both staircases are real walnut, as are the floors. There is even a ladder that climbs to the attic.
The chateau is based on a kit which was radically modified. Osborne used a band saw to split every wall and every floor so that she could make the house four inches wider. She discarded the kit’s 3rd floor and created a new roof-line, resulting in more interior wall space and a better room arrangement.
The chateau is fully electrified, with chandeliers, sconces, and lamps. The furniture, mirrors, fireplaces, pictures, statues, bathroom fixtures, automobile, vases, clocks, musical instruments, flowers, dishes, books, foods, toys, etc. were collected from many places in the United States and Europe. The lovely hand-painted porcelain plates in the dining room came from England. The kitchen has 1930s appliances such as a Roper range and a Maytag refrigerator.
Osborne designed all of the decorations on the exterior. The decoration of the many windows is different on each floor. There is even a wisteria vine on a trellis. Osborne did not put dolls to represent people into this house. Instead, she would like for each of you to imagine yourself living here. For more information about the Wisteria Chateau on permanent display at the Faulk Central Library please call 512-974-7400 or visit www.cityofaustin.org/library.
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