In 1928, silent film star Colleen Moore (1899-1988) assembled a legion of her industry colleagues to help craft a miniature home of fantastic proportions. Horace Jackson, an architect and set designer who worked for First National Studios, created the floor plan and layout of the doll house with the basic idea that "the architecture must have no sense of reality. We must invent a structure that is everybody's conception of an enchanted castle."

By 1935, approximately 100 people had worked on the Fairy Castle. The price tag for this 8'7" x 8'2" x 7'7" foot palace, containing more than 1,500 miniatures, was nearly $500,000. Ms. Moore then organized a national tour of the Fairy Castle to raise money for children's charities. The tour stopped in most major cities of the United States and was often exhibited in the toy departments of prominent department stores. The tour was a huge success and raised more than $650,000 between 1935 and 1939. Ms. Moore's dollhouse has been a featured exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago since 1949, where according to the museum, it is seen by 1.5 million people each year and would be worth $7 million.

The poster pictured here advertises the Seattle stop of the castle's tour, from August 14-28, 1937. Exhibited downtown at Frederick & Nelson, the event culminated with an autograph signing by Ms. Moore at the store.

Caption information source: https://www.msichicago.org/explore/whats-here/exhibits/colleen-moores-fairy-castle/the-story
Caption information source: "Famous Half-Million Dollar Doll House to Be Shown Here," The Seattle Sunday Times, August 1, 1937, p. 7.