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Thursday, March 22, 2012

Built-Rite 1940s 2-Story House w-Garage

There was a crooked man and he walked a crooked mile,
He found a crooked sixpence upon a crooked stile.
He bought a crooked cat, which caught a crooked mouse.
And they all lived together in a little crooked house
-English Nursery  Rhyme

Today Toys & Stuff brings you a little crooked house courtesy of Bulit-Rite - I think!! I'm posting today's toy as a Built-Rite house from the 1940s but quite frankly I'm not sure who made it! It certainly appears to be something Built-Rite may have done, and it does have a 1940s feel to it but there are no maker's marks on the house that I can discern, except for the 'T' on the chimney  of which I'm unfamiliar (the firm of 'Tru-Scale' comes to mind which used to produce HO scale model railroading items - but that's just speculation). It was bought already built-up and in kind of rough shape and it's impossible to discern whether the crookedness was the result of poor craftsmanship or simply the effects of cycles of moisture and drying causing it to warp. If anyone out there in Internet Land knows for sure who made this please let me know, until then I've got my research cut out for me.

***STOP THE PRESSES! Update 23 Mar 2012: David, a reader from one of my favorite  has tentatively identified this as one of the 'Tiny Town' series of buildings made by Ideal!! Many Thanx David!***
One of the things I thought fascinating about this was the appearance of an additional room not seen on previous, 1930s era, Built-Rite houses. Can you guess what it is?  The Garage. During Post-war America cars were in big demand and a place to house automobiles  became a focal point in housing architecture that remains to this day. Heck, we have new, small houses right here in my neighborhood that have this awful looking big garage door fronting the street with essentially the house being built above it - and no wider than the two-car garage sitting below - Heinous!! Anyway, today's toy is still a recovered toy from the past, and so my friends - Enjoy!