Rather poetically, an exhibit at the Museum of Childhood in London has coincided with our house hunting in Porto. For a nomadic family like ours, the idea of settling down can feel like a momentous event. We’ve embarked on this particular adventure en famille. Everyone has their criteria to bring to the search, of course – light, space, architectural appeal. No matter what’s on the viewing agenda, the girls’ favourite always seems to be the last house we visited. Although it was Casa Cão, or The Dog House, that left the most lasting impression. The owners of this house have five children. They also have five dogs. And two cats. And three turtles. And a snake. And a cage full of mice to feed the snake. A veritable Noah’s ark, moored to the Atlantic shore in Porto….
More often, however, visiting these houses has been like stepping onto the pages of Alice in Wonderland. The spaciousness of empty houses gives rise to optical illusions. Empty spaces say “Fill Me!”, and we do. With objects, ideas and even encounters to come. That’s what a dream house is all about, and that’s what got me thinking about doll houses, well before I learned of the V&A exhibit. We have had so many doll houses over the years. There is the Sylvanians mansion, the Lego high-rises, and the dog-eared flea market find from Switzerland, with the real wooden shutters. More recently still, every square foot of our home has become a home in miniature. Playmobil people have inspired Lilliput improvisations in every corner. The shoebox becomes a prefab dwelling, the DVD tower is emptied of films to make room for mini Manhattanites, eventually the entirety of our walk-in closet was turned into a thriving metropolis. We adults have had to tread like Gulliver to avoid becoming like Godzilla to the little folk.
Each of these doll houses is also inhabited by a story line. When we think of doll houses, it’s often considered a girl’s pastime. Are they really so different however from the castles and dungeons I built as a boy? There was also the occasional interstellar Lego space station, and the meticulously planned underwater habitat, an imagined Atlantis for me to escape to in adulthood once the surface of the became too hostile for humans (yes, for better or worse, apocalyptic fantasies came early to me). So although I agree that traditional doll houses say as much (or more!) about us adults than it does about our children that play with them, I don’t believe they are merely about domesticity, or tacit teachings about the hearth and homemaking. These little houses are a stage, the backdrop for narratives about our lives, actual or imagined. Something similar might be said about real houses. “Safe as houses”, goes the old saying, in favour of real estate as the foremost investment asset (see my recent post about Monopoly Money for more on that capitalist credo). In cities like New York or London where we lived, real estate as a store of value or speculative scorecard is something of an obsession. Here in Porto, by contrast, looking at very real houses, we find ourselves thinking of their miniature toy land mirror image, and imagining all the great stories they have in store for us. So many beautiful, derelict houses still stand here, waiting for someone to come along and tell their forgotten stories, as well as a new story or two.
Romas Viesulas
I divide my time between home in Portugal – taking road trips to Latin America in search of investment opportunities – and London, where I often present the current affairs programme on Monocle 24 Radio. For Pirouette, I'll take my inspiration from The Swiss Family Robinson. Life with kids is certainly an adventure. It can seem easy to feel shipwrecked however on the high seas of a rapidly changing, ever more globalised world. How can we ensure our children have the tools they need to survive, even thrive?
Subscribe to Pirouette's monthly Newsletter.
You might also like
November 4, 2016
Experimental Guest House by Steven Holl Architects
This new development by Steven Holl Architects looks like a doll house. Kids will love it at first sight. Located in Rhinebeck (Upstate New York, near Woodstock), it sits in the middle of the green.…
March 24, 2014
Bench Bed, Doll House / Sisters Guild
Do you know Sisters Guild ? More than a boutique it's a destination for new things or old things, all with high creative content : products from a favourite designer, prints, recipes, vintage pieces…
October 30, 2013
Take the kids out of the house, to the wild!
Do your kids spend enough time outdoors? Why is that important? Take a look at Project Wild Thing, a film and a movement aiming to reconnecting children with nature.
February 10, 2012
Beach House in Portugal
Have a look at this beach house spotted in Portugal by Interior and Architecture Photographer Gaelle Le Boulicault. Isn't a beach house everybody"s dream? A desert or secret beach
October 10, 2011
Dandy house
. . . Rose Bamford's house in Cornwall - The Telegraph. Rose Bamford is the co-founder of famous British label Dandy Star.
June 18, 2011
Getting the house ready…
Getting the house ready for Jasmine's 7th birthday. Celebrating all day : fifteen girls, fairy princess and face painter in the morning, five boys for a Star Wars screening and lego in the…
October 25, 2010
Dream house…in a tree
I want a treehouse like this! In the garden of Marcelo Joulia, founder of Naco Architects - Photos Jean-Francois Jaussaud, Lux Productions
October 9, 2010
A house full of friends
Coming back home is a constant surprise. What will the children have invented? One day they are picnicking with bears and sock monkeys under the kitchen table, another day they have created a…
June 16, 2010
House in the clouds
For this story called The House in the Clouds, Karin Nussbaumer teamed with Frank Visser, a Dutch talented Art Director and Prop Designer. I particularly enjoy the subtle religious symbols in…