c. 1910
Manufacturer: W Godley & Co, Australia
H 63 x W 55 x D 38 cm
Collection: Lila Rait
Manufacturer: W Godley & Co, Australia
H 63 x W 55 x D 38 cm
Collection: Lila Rait
This Tudor style house is attributed to W. Godley & Co. in Prahran.
In 1885, William Godley was the proprietor of his father-in-law’s business, Sharp’s Furnishings Warehouse, 22 Chapel Street, Prahran. By 1895, Godley had moved Godley & Co. Furniture Warehouse to 312 Chapel Street and by 1900 expanded the business to The Burlington, 308 - 312 Chapel Street.
W. Godley & Co. was more than a furniture shop. It sold all sorts of lamps and other furnishings and also sold toys like this doll’s house. Godley & Co’s Christmas toy display was ‘a very extensive and beautiful one…the store is just crammed with beautiful things’i.
Very little information exists about the house itself and while it does not have manufacturer’s plaques or stencils, there are marked similarities to the Margareta Webber house. The materials used, the physical weight of the houses and the design elements identify it as Godley: compare the heavy stucco and chimney styles of the two houses.
This smaller house contains only two rooms, but the clever roof design reveals an ‘attic space’ with two additional rooms for play.
