Spent Matchstick House Model

Offered is this “matchstick modeled” mid-century house with surrounding garden and hinged roof.

“Matchstick modeling” is said to have begun as a form of recreation in prisons during the 19th century.

It continued well into the 20th century and was perhaps more commonly took the form of jewelry boxes, sewing boxes and picture frames that were given to prisoner’s family members or occasionally even prison guards as gifts. Eventually the craft made its way out of its purportedly original prison setting and into the mainstream thereby making it virtually impossible to distinguish what’s made inside or outside the big house without some form of documentation.

Constructed entirely of used matches and glue on a plywood base is this house model with celluloid, paper and architectural model shrub elements as clever embellishment. Whether “prison art” or not, an incredible level of attention was paid toward the rendering of this idealized vision of what’s obviously a mid-century home. Every door and window is hinged and the roof (also hinged) tips backward to reveal a single room with a four-pointed parquetry star in the middle of the floor. There are even gutters!

Mid-20th century. Found upstate New York.