When a neighbor, Ron Gage, asked Afra Nahmmacher a few years ago if he could make a model of her house, she said sure, and didn’t think much more about it. So she was surprised when Gage showed up two weeks ago and told her he wanted his dining room table back and she could have the model.
Nahmmacher is the owner of Crooked Lake Mercantile on the four corners in Branchport. “I was blown away that someone would give me something like this,” she said.
For now, the model is on display in the store, because she has small children, ages 3 and 6 and wants to save the delicate masterpiece until they are old enough to play with it.
Eventually, the 2 foot high reproduction will have a place in the house it was modeled after. She hopes to soon start collecting pieces for the unfurnished home.
Gage says he has built about 20 houses. He says it is a hobby and not a business. He picked Nahmmacher’s house because he drives by it almost daily. Victorian houses are his favorites and he loves the colors she used to paint it. The porch has intricate details which attracted him too. Gage created the model through photos taken from the road.
A retiree, Gage became interested in dollhouses and miniatures after attending the annual show at the Curtiss Museum in Hammondsport. He has been pursing the hobby for about eight years. “It keeps you busy and your mind occupied,” he says.
From a train station for his grandson to cozy log cabins, Gage works from 7-5 p.m., seven days a week. He says he made a house and gave it to another neighbor, Camp Good Days. “They raffled it and made some good money,” he says.
Perhaps his biggest project took about eight months. He made a replica of The Becker House, home of the Seneca Falls Historical Society. The ornate 1853 mansion is 56 inches long, 48 inches high and 28 inches deep.
The Seneca Falls house, as well as a picture of Nahmmachers’s house, are featured in the March 2009 issue of “Miniature Collector.”
“I like to use good materials,”says Gage, adding, “So the houses can be heirlooms to pass down through generations.”
Gage sees lots of houses that catch his eye and Nahmmacher is glad he took a fancy to hers.
