Dollhouse exhibit opens in Rockville Centre, museum has more plans

Trustees of the Museum of Rockville Centre at the Phillips House welcomed an array of local dignitaries as it officially put its fully restored 1905 antique dollhouse on display last Sunday.

Donated by village residents Susan and David Milano, the dollhouse was originally a gift to Susan’s grandmother, Anne Davis, when she was born. Anne gave it to her daughter, Nancy, who remembers playing with it during her childhood in Rockville Centre. She in turn gave it to her daughter, Susan, in 1996. Stored in the Milano’s basement, time was taking its toll on the dollhouse, so the couple decided to donate it, and the drop leaf table on which it sat, to the museum.

Learning that it would need a complete restoration, Edith Heinemann and her partner Annette Samant of Prudential Real Estate presented the museum with a check to do the necessary work, which was performed by Marianne Jurgens of Dollhouse Alley. Erika Brancato and Sera Allen decorated the restored antique and arranged its furnishings.

The dollhouse will be on exhibit at the museum, 28 Hempstead Ave., during the spring season when the museum will also host its annual antique roadshow and an exhibit of 100 photographs from a year in Rockville Centre, taken by Herald photographer Penny Frondelli.

Contact Frank Seipp at (516) 764-7459 for more information on the current display and upcoming Phillips House events.