…Miniatures continued: The Miniatures Museum in St. Louis, MO

In a city home to Saarinen’s arch, Budweiser and the Cardinals…yes…I managed to find the miniatures museum right away while visiting this summer. Everything happens for a reason and so it’s no accident that the first brochure my eyes saw at the Lambert airport information booth was a home-made black and white tri-fold document all about this museum. I’m not kidding. Longtime residents I know there said that they didn’t even know this museum existed in their hometown.


Many of the collections are donations from different estates from around the country. Texas seems to be a big hub for miniatures as several houses were donated from families there. The small museum space is a non-descript warehouse-type place that fronts a main street and its dark inside because of course, the houses are lighted. I was impressed that visitors have the option of pressing a button on each house to turn on the lights which automatically turn off a few minutes later as they’re on a timer. The museum even provides flash lights to shine into the unlit crevasses (not that I found any).

There’s a wide variety of craftsmanship on display. Some houses are evidently more professionally rendered than others but all are charming nonetheless. They are stored behind Plexiglas cases and many have a bio page hanging nearby. It’s fun to see how other miniaturists have tackled the many building complexities such as wallpaper, draperies, upholstery, lighting, flooring exterior siding and furniture. I now know that my miniature home is also museum quality and I’m proud of that.

 See http://miniaturemuseum.org/ for more information.

Best wishes,

CCS Architect

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