Virginia Gibbons' historic doll house finds new home at CHRISTUS St. Joseph Villa

Intermountain Catholic

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adie Hoagland beams after threading a gold chandelier through the ceiling of a bedroom in her grandmother's doll house.

SALT LAKE CITY — Sadie Hoagland gently lifted the miniature chandelier from the hand of her mother, Vicky. She carefully threaded its delicate gold chain through the center hole of a sand dollar attached to the ceiling in one of the rooms of her grandmother’s doll house. Pulling the gold chain through the ceiling of the tiny room until the chandelier hung at just the right height, Sadie settled the chain in place with a thumb tack and gave a sigh of relief. "There, perfect." she said.

Three generations of the Patrick and Virginia Gibbons family had gathered in the entryway of CHRISTUS St. Joseph Villa July 28-29 to reassemble Virginia’s historic doll house in its new home. Begun by Virginia Gibbons in the early years of the 20th century, the doll house with its 13 rooms and its Italian Villa-style garden, has long been an attraction for Salt Lake City fund raisers, luncheons, and classroom field trips.

The doll house, elegantly furnished with museum quality pieces Virginia collected on journeys through Europe with her grandparents who raised her, was painstakingly built by Virginia and her husband, Pat Gibbons.

"We grew up with the doll house in our house," said Valli Gibbons Durham, one of Pat and Virginia’s four children. "It seemed like everyone in the Salt Lake City area wanted to see it"

As the family moved from one home to another, the doll house moved with them, said Vicky Gibbons Hoagland. "Our mother loved to share it with people."

Since 1995, the doll house has been located at the Utah Children’s Museum. When museum curators took the museum to an all interactive format, the doll house no longer fit in.

"One thing we noticed when the doll house was in the museum was it wasn’t the children who were attracted to it; it was the adults," said Durham at the dedication of the doll house and donor recognition July 30 at the Villa. "We’re grateful that Jennifer, our brother Bill’s wife, suggested the Villa."

Father Anastasius Iwuoha, chaplain at the Villa, blessed the newly installed doll house, set up at eye level for people in wheelchairs. It immediately drew the attention of residents who pointed out items in the little rooms "just like I used to use."

Galen Ewer, executive director of the Villa said it is appropriate to locate the doll house at the Villa.

"It gives our residents and their families the opportunity to enjoy this unusual piece, and to reflect and reminisce about the times reflected in the doll house."

Ewer called the doll house "a fitting legacy of the Gibbons family" which the Villa "is proud to help carry forward."

Durham said as she was growing up, "I assumed everyone had a doll house in their basement. One of my fondest memories of my mother is how she treated every article in the doll house with tender loving care. The doll house was a place to house all of mom’s treasures."

The Salt Lake Tribune wrote its first story on the doll house in 1948, when only seven rooms had been completed, Hoagland said in an interview with the Intermountain Catholic. "It took Mom and Dad 10 years to complete the doll house. It has been greatly loved, enjoyed, and appreciated over the years. We really appreciate this placement at CHRISTUS St. Joseph Villa, where people can enjoy it."

Hoagland said she remembers her mother bringing tiny items home from antique stores and ordering them from magazines that specialized in miniatures.

"Mother looked at actual house floor plans as she decorated each room," Hoagland said.

In 1952, the Tribune featured a second article when all 13 rooms were completed.

Transporting the doll house to the Villa and setting it up was no small task.

"We brought everything for each room in separate zip-lock bags," said Durham. "We washed and polished all the silver and cleaned the photographs. This is the way Mom set it up the last time."

Although many doll houses are actually toys, the Gibbons doll house is hardly a plaything. Among the tiny antique furnishings are a piano that is a working music box, illustrated books and magazines, a rare Egyptian jewel box, a Teddy Bear® with moveable limbs. The main attraction in the sewing room is a miniature sewing machine that really works, and the dining room boasts fine china.

A 1992 article in Salt Lake Magazine reveals that a tiny pair of porcelain dancing shoes peeking our from under the dust ruffle in the lady’s boudoir were on her Virginia’s great-grandmother’s wedding cake.

As three generations of the Gibbons family were putting the finishing touches on the doll house and locking down the glass windows that protect it, a resident in a wheelchair approached the doll house. In silence, she made her way all around the house. When she had seen it all, eve the attic, she wheeled herself over to have a chat with Durham, sitting nearby.

"When I was a little girl, I had a doll house, but it was nothing like this one," she said.

"Really?" Durham asked. "Tell me about your doll house."

"It had six rooms," the resident said. "It had little beds and little books and tiny shoes in the closet..."

Priceless memories were being shared.