This is my second favourite dollhouse.
John Sands Cardboard Dollhouse they called 'Sunnyside'.
I'm always amazed at how some of the most fragile dollhouses survived intact for decades when it's clear they've been well played with.
This cardboard dollhouse that was manufactured in Australia by John Sands started its life in 1946 as far as I can trace it. It's from their line of toys known as 'Easy Built' that sprung up during the second world war when materials for toys like metal had to be used for the war effort.
Easy Built in 1946.
Easy Built is not the same company as the other Australian 'Ezy Bilt' toys.
In 1941 Ezy-Bilt ceased manufacturing toys (for a while at least). They weren't the only toy manufacturer to do so during the war.
Ezy-Bilt made metal construction toys similar to Meccano, so similar that Meccano had a copyright issue with them at one stage.
Ezy-Bilt didn't stay dormant forever in the 1940's, they later started up again through another company still trading under Ezy-Bilt.
I can see that John Sands Easy Built began to advertise their paper product toys in 1941, so around the same time as Ezy-Bilt stopped making their metal toys.
I can see that John Sands Easy Built began to advertise their paper product toys in 1941, so around the same time as Ezy-Bilt stopped making their metal toys.
It's possible that Easy Built could have been around prior to 1941 but 1941 is when I first see their advertising for these cardboard toys. While they have the same sounding name as Ezy-Bilt, the same meaning, it's a different spelling, using different materials.
Sunnyside's house number is 161.
This sweet house is named 'Sunnyside', a name that's seen above the porch entrance on the facing brickwork. Sunnyside's house number is 166 as seen printed on the front door that can open and close.
John Sands Pty Ltd are of course well known for their board games, greeting cards, stationary, maps, jigsaw puzzles and as a book publisher who originally printed the adorable Australian Digit Dick children's books.
The cardboard box base is the base for the house.
My house comes with this original box.
Easy Built were strong cardboard toys that came unassembled and required no glue or cutting, everything just slotted into place, held together by small tabs and the overall structure of their dollhouses helped keep the house stabilised.
As with some other cardboard dollhouses, the underside of the box became the base for the house.
An Australian made gem of a dollhouse.
The John Sands Easy Built toys produced 50 toy soldiers, a tank with moving gun turret, a service station, a Jay-Ess glider plane, battleships, a variety of warplanes, submarine, Mickey Mouse zoo with over 40 animals and also an included ice cream kiosk, a fort, garage, fire engine, trucks, a moving picture theatre, dollhouses, model furniture, jigsaws and guns, even a machine gun that worked, complete with sound and ammunition.
The back view. Not as pretty as the front but with easy access to the rooms.
Throughout 1941 Easy Built dollhouses were advertised a number of times in various newspapers and it appears there wasn't just one dollhouse. Some of the adverts stated 'Easy Built' Dolls' Houses.
There were no photos and no other information except the price. Then in 1942 they produced another dollhouse and described it as a new dollhouse which makes it sound like it was different to the previous dollhouses. I have no idea what that dollhouse looked liked either as I can't find a picture of it, only the mention of it in a Cribb and Foote Limited advertisement on the 11th June 1942 in the Queensland Times. The advert also mentions that furniture can be bought for the dollhouse but once again, no photo and at that stage no indication in what form that dollhouse furniture took.
Then in another 1942 advert for an Easy Built dollhouse it mentioned coloured cardboard furniture.
Bare unpainted walls with painted floors to look like carpet.
My Sunnyside dollhouse popped up in an advert on the 5th September 1946 in the Sydney Daily Mirror and was for sale by Selfridges with an image of the box that can be clearly seen as the same dollhouse box pictured here. It appeared again later that same year for sale at Grace Bros Toyland in Sydney and elsewhere. I don't know if this was the same dollhouse from 1942 or if Sunnyside was new in 1946. Until I know for sure, I'll use 1946 as the year Sunnyside was manufactured.
Sunnyside will remain unfurnished until I can find suitable vintage or vintage style cardboard furniture to decorate the four rooms.
All thanks to John Sands Pty. Ltd. Australia.
