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Family Reunion

Issue: 
August 2009

Busy Hartzog just couldn’t forget her aunt’s circa-1920s playhouse, so she brought it home from South Carolina and restored it with love

Photographs by: 
Christopher Brown
A wooden angel that belonged to Anna is displayed in the bedroom.
The playhouse is named for Busy Hartzog’s favorite aunt who played in the home as a child in the 1920s.
The bedroom in the home is awash in girlish charm with an embroidered flower bedspread, pink walls, and a bookshelf filled with purses, gloves, and other tea party attire.
Busy Hartzog with her father, Nat Maddux. The 300-square-foot playhouse was built for Maddux’s cousin, Anna, in the 1920s.
Vintage purses and costume jewelry are among the many dress-up accessories for the girls attending the tea parties.
A photo of the home in its original location in Gaffney, South Carolina.
The original subway tiles in the bathroom were refurbished along with the sink. Hartzog found the tiny bathtub at an antique shop.
Nat Maddux on the front porch in the late 1920s
A rural scene adorns a shade of an original brass sconce in the bedroom.
Hartzog makes place cards bearing the name of each girl attending the tea party.
Busy Hartzog frequented antique stores in her search for small furniture to match the scale of the playhouse. A local craftsman shortened the legs on a standard-size coffee table for the living room.
Original molding frames cozy window seat in the living room.
Busy prepares for a party in the dining room.
Visitors learn manners and etiquette over tea and treats at Anna’s Playhouse.
Nearly 200 panes of glass were refurbished in the sunroom.
Donning a princess gown, a guest makes herself at home in the living room.
Anna and friends in front of the playhouse in Gaffney, South Carolina.
The move to Mills River required a crane to lower it onto the foundation.
Custom cabinets and a mini fridge are proportionate to the original sink and stove.
Craftsmen rebuilt the bay window, which had rotted, and restored the bed.
Above, little ladies wear Busy’s dress-up costumes.
Web exclusive photos provided by Christopher Brown, Mike Patterson, and Busy Hartzog.