“Everybody’s interested, young or old, male or female,” Pat Lohenry says. “You can imagine you’re little. So many people will say, ‘Oh, I wish I was this big so I could live in that house.’ It’s a fantasy world. I always loved houses. Big houses. I’d say, ‘I want that pretty house.’ Now, I can build that. Maybe I can’t buy that house, but I can make a small one like it. You can have a gorgeous room or bedroom, but maybe you can’t have it big. Maybe you don’t have the space or the money. But you can have it little.”
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The March house’s interior is done up in green for Saint Patrick’s Day. The June house is decked out for a wedding, with model cars parked out in front. A miniature blue fountain spits out water from the center of the circular driveway, and a small tram is built into a mountain. The TVs in the houses are lit up with little lights. The lights in the houses work. The July house is red, white, and blue; the October, black and orange. If you look closely enough at each room, you continue to see new, subtle details, the result of Lohenry’s ingenuity.
For Lohenry, opening the dollhouse museum represents the realization of a lifelong dream and the climax of 18 years’ labor. Until a couple of months ago, the houses were sitting in her basement. She says she’d never really thought of displaying them. They were just projects she worked on to escape the drudgery of being a housewife.
The Holidays Dollhouse Museum, 7644 W. Touhy Ave., is open from 1 to 9 Monday and Thursday, 10 to 6 Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday, 10 to 5 Wednesday, and 1 to 5 Sunday. Admission is $1 for adults and 50 cents for senior citizens and children. Phone 774-6666 for info.
