Mrs. Thorne's Miniature Rooms

Two of my favorite magazines are Elle Decor and Dwell magazine, and not just for the beautiful images. Besides having great article content, both editors write truly insightful Editor's Notes that I look forward to almost as much as the photos. This month, Michael Boodro: Editor in Chief of Elle Decor, mentioned the Thorne Miniature Rooms on display at the Art Institute of Chicago. I immediately looked them up and was amaaaaazed.

English Drawing Room, Victorian Period
1840-1870

Between the years 1932 and 1940, a woman named Mrs. James Ward Thorne meticulously designed 68 miniature rooms depicting almost every type of design style beginning in 13th-century England and ending in 1930's California. The rooms were built by skilled craftsman out of work during the Great Depression, each room is built at one inch equals one foot scale. 

New York Parlor
1850-1870

These things are incredible, and allow us to see the incredible evolution of design in diorama form. Boodro writes;

"Virtually every period and style in between is represented: late Tudor and Shaker, Louis XV and English Georgian, French Empire and California modern. Attention has been lavished on the tiniest details. Wall murals and paneling, Persian rugs and silver tea sets, candlesticks and crystal chandeliers, have all been documented...Each vignette, none much larger than 17 inches wide, is marvelously specific."

Cape Cod Cottage Living Room
1750-1850

I could look at these things for hours, check them out online if you aren't able to travel to Chicago. Or, watch a video montage:

One of the benefits of building these rooms at such a small scale is that they have stayed perfectly intact and are expertly maintained. When Mrs. Thorne died, she allocated much of her remaining fortune to the care and occasional repair of her rooms. As someone who has spent many frustrating evenings building models for school, I am glad to learn that whoever has the job of repairing these guys with tiny tweezers and q-tips is well paid...

Best, 

Jess