Gingerbread and Doll Houses: Small Works Pack Big Holiday Delights at MCNY

A highly aromatic show, “Gingerbread NYC: The Great Borough Bake-Off,” is a sweet and spicy ode to “Iconic New York” buildings, places and things at the Museum of the City of New York.

And further proving that small packages can pack big delights for young and old, the Stettheimer Dollhouse–which was artfully restored over a six month period–makes a return to MCNY this holiday season up on the third floor.

On the gingerbread front, for the third consecutive year, professional and amateur bakers from across the Big Apple were invited to enter the competition and use their culinary skills in the service of a theme. This year’s 20 Iconic New York winners were judged by a panel of five, including Bobby Lloyd, the CEO and chief baking officer of Magnolia Bakery, and Amy Scherber, the founder and owner of Amy’s Bread.

The five judging categories included “Most Realistic,” “Most Unique,” and “Good Enough to Eat.” The top prize, “Best Overall,” was awarded to Brooklyn restaurant Sotto Voce and boutique bakery Something Sugared for their whimsical take on Coney Island’s landmark Wonder Wheel, replete with Nathan’s Famous hot dogs and elves. (Sadly, the wheel was removed from public display after less than one month following its collapse in late November. “The delicate and ephemeral nature of gingerbread means such occurrences are unfortunately possible, but we are grateful for the joy it brought to everyone who saw it,” MCNY said in a statement to Straus News.)

We were pleased to see Manhattan well represented with frosted iterations of the Empire State Building, One World Trade Center, erstwhile Yorkville storefronts (Glaser’s Bake Shop, sigh), Macy’s, New York-style pizza and more. Oui Bakely’s Julia Kiskie used her considerable talents to craft a replica of The Dakota, winner for “Best Borough Spirit: Manhattan.” It’s a ginger-flavored tribute to the legendary apartment house on Central Park West at 72nd Street, which is both a national and city landmark.

Oui Bakely is an online bakery, a side business for Kiskie, who also works as a pastry chef de partie at the Aman New York hotel on Fifth Avenue. It took two weeks, from design to installation, to complete the project. She was helped by her mother, “who did the sketch and the measurements. I did the rest, which was cutting out and putting the pieces together,” she told us in an interview. The yellow taxi in front of the building is a cookie, like the Christmas trees inside and outside the complex.

“I loved the architecture and the history of The Dakota, and how the building was designed, how they used different styles,” she said.

The competition is still underway. After getting a whiff of the edible show, head to the iPad near the exit and cast your vote for the most iconic installation. A fan favorite will be announced in mid-January. We voted! It runs through January 12, 2025.

The Stettheimer Dollhouse Gets a Refresh

Another sweet offering on the 3rd floor of MCNY is the Stettheimer Dollhouse, which has returned to the museum this holiday season after a six-month restoration by the Art Conservation Group in Long Island City. A fixture of the museum’s collection since it was donated in 1945, the year after the death of its creator and loving curator Carrie Stettheimer, the 16-room, 36-inch-tall “doll’s house” now boasts a new, airy vitrine, surrounded by photo enlargements and information illuminating its history and minute décor. Think small and posh—chinoiserie for the library, a ballroom, friezes on the walls of the nursery and, remarkably, fine art in miniature by the likes of Marcel Duchamp, Gaston Lachaise and William Zorach.

A freestanding work of art, the house was built by a carpenter and decorated by Carrie over a nearly 20-year period from 1916 to 1935. The facade was modeled after the Stettheimer sisters’ summer manse, André Brook, in Tarrytown. “The Stetties” as the siblings were known—-Carrie (dollhouse doyenne), Ettie (writer and philosopher) and Florine (painter)—resided at the tony Alwyn Court on W. 58th Street and Seventh Avenue, where they hosted a fashionable salon that attracted early modern arts and culture figures such as Georgia O’Keefe, Gertrude Stein and Man Ray. Art critic Arthur Danto dubbed the circle “American Bloomsbury.”

The dollhouse, however, like any house, needed upkeep. It was last taken out of commission for conservation in 1999. This time around “it was cleaned, paint was touched up, and fabric was re-adhered in places. Areas of fabric loss were compensated in some spots, but it was largely a project to clean and stabilize,” Curator Lilly Tuttle explained in an email.

One of the many things we learned upon viewing this charming artifact: In the 1970s, the museum’s toy curator, John Darcy Noble, staged an intervention and crafted a set of eight dolls to occupy the house, which until then was a dollhouse minus the dolls. He made both the dolls and their outfits in a style he called “thoroughly Stettheimer,” using tulle, chiffon and fur to evoke the chic sisters and their social set, including characters such as Edward Steichen, Isabel Lachaise, Marguerite Zorach and a spot on Gertrude Stein. Our personal favorite: the “Kissing Maid,” with lips puckered up, ready to plant one.

Noble created a series of mise-en-scènes in the rooms of the house with his fanciful figures, a practice now frowned upon by curators because it violates the creator’s original intent, which in this case was all about the eclectic décor. Fortunately for today’s viewers, they can be seen in a nearby display case.

”The dollhouse is a delight for visitors of all ages, offering a window into the elegant artistic world that the Stettheimer sisters inhabited in 1920s New York,” the curator wrote. “It’s a must-see for both first-time and longtime dollhouse fans!”