History of the House of Miniatures Brand

DISCLAIMER: This information is being gathered from various indirect sources and may be incorrect or incomplete in some details. If you can shed any light any the subject please e-mail colin@maineminiatures.com

The Start: 1976 - 1981

1969 - National Handcraft Institute, Inc. (mail order handcraft kits) acquired by CBS, Inc. See an example of their offerings.

1971 - X-Acto, Inc. was purchased by CBS, Inc. and based in Long Island City, NY.

1976 - House of Miniatures line appeared with X-Acto emblem, born out of the National Handcraft lines. Both X-Acto and HoM were located on Van Dam Street in Long Island City, NY, now the site of Middle College High School. The kit of the month club was administered out of Terre Haute, IN. By 1977 there were 35 kits, plus other items in the line up and a full line catalog was produced.

1981 - X-Acto and HoM sold, National Handcraft Institute dissolved.

Hunt Mfg. Co.: 1981 - 1986

In March 1981, Hunt Mfg. Co. paid $13.9 million for two properties previously owned by CBS Inc., the X-Acto company, which made hobby knives, and the House of Miniatures company, which sold dollhouse miniatures through the mails. Both remained in Long Island City, New York. The Hunt Mfg. Co. notice went on the boxes in place of CBS. In 1984, HoM introduced their Coronation Series of artisan furniture pieces as high-end collectibles.

In April 1985, Hunt moved its X-Acto operations to its Statesville, North Carolina manufacturing facility. X-Acto/HoM address changed to 2000 Craftmark Center and the Hunt Mfg. Co. is still listed on the package. The catalog department was listed as being in Bergenfield, NJ, which is also where club inquiries were directed. Sometime in 1985 the Craftmark name went on the advertisements, but the NJ address was the same.

By the end of 1985, after a spurt of acquisitions, Hunt´s revenues had surpassed $100 million for the first time. The following year (1986), Hunt trimmed back its operations somewhat, selling off two divisions, including the costly House of Miniatures mail-order operation.

Craftmark: 1986 - 19??

When HoM was sold the Craftmark name went on the HoM packaging as it moved to Delaware, Ohio. I am guessing that the buyers formed a new company using the Craftmark name. They changed the X-Acto HoM logo by exchanging the word Craftmark and removing the gold seal effect. No other company info is listed on the boxes, so the new company must have been independent. X-Acto is still in Statesville.

Houseworks: 1995 - ?

The House of Miniatures name was used in the 1990s for a line of H.O. scale houses. The Houseworks name was on the packages (seal) and the club was administered by HBS out of Atlanta.

Hobby Builders Supply: 1999 - present

The final address and phone number that HoM had leads to Hobby Builders Supply. HBS was the repository of the final inventory. When I called HBS in December of 2007 they said that there were still several kits available. Checking their stock I see that they have eleven different designs still in stock, but that translates into several thousand items!