This entry is the rough beginning of notes, as there are a few houses I've been asked to help identify and I just haven't been able to manage it. Ironically, one of them belongs to my mother!

So I'm going to start a list of known-but-defunct manufacturers of wooden houses or house kits from the 1970s forward. This list includes only makers that did NOT use tab-and-slot construction. Tab-and-slot history can be found here.

Hofco House

Based in Woodsboro, Maryland, from 1986 to 1989, possibly still around through 1992. Products included doors and windows, along with several house kits. Known models are #161 Byron Free, #163 extension, #194 Victorian Farmhouse, #214 Victorian Classic, #252 Victorian Townhouse, Georgian house, Federal front-opening house, and general store.

Batrie

Made houses that had a peculiar window construction, with the shutters as part of the frame. Though this company was bought by Real Good Toys, its vintage houses are not necessarily the same as RGT's current "Batrie collection."

Products included Harvard Collection #310 New England Cottage. I'm having trouble finding other examples, though I think the Goodwill house here might be a Batrie. There were obviously more models, but little shows up on eBay. My Batrie New England Cottage was already built when we bought it at a Pleasanton antique shop.

This pink house also has Batrie-style windows (including the detailing on the mullions), door, and corner posts. That doesn't mean it definitely is a Batrie, as there's not enough information to make a determination. Older Walmer houses sometimes had similar features, and many Walmer models had off-center doors or windows.

An archived copy of a miniature company's site shows a mini kit box (the fake kind of box, as if you had a dollhouse kit to go in your dollhouse, only there aren't any parts) for a Batrie Victorian House as late as November 2004. My best guess from a tiny, blurry photo is that the Batrie Victorian house is the precursor of the RGT Newport.

Walmer

Walmer houses from the late 1970s are characterized by mansard roofs, chunky window detailing, and a construction where the walls slotted together and were held by pins. Walmer later switched to a more conventional method of construction, then was bought by RGT, which sells the most recent lower-priced Walmer models as the "Lilliput" line. Look for a label on the ceiling under the roof of older houses. Although I can't find photos, I know these exist, as I had one as a teenager, and my parents now have a different model. The shape is like the later Georgie, but the windows and door are plainer, and the houses I've seen were back-opening.

By 1983, Walmer had either changed construction methods or started an additional line, as this Tiffany seems to have more conventional construction, and it lacks the chunky detailing. The Olde Village Shop may also be from this era: three stories, front-opening, with a low roof.

A 1997 version of Mott's Mini's site says that Walmer's higher-end collector's series included the Nob Hill, the Montclair, and Foxhall Manor. Presumably the latter two models are identical to the same-name models in RGT's Sophistikits collection. A 1997 posting on Miniature Reference Penpals List indicates that this series also included a Williamsburg, so several of RGT's current "Batrie" houses may be former Walmer models.

Again according to Mott's, there was also a Miss Muffet line that offered two models -- the Victoriana and the front-opening Georgie -- that were the same as then-current Lilliput models but came with preassembled windows.

American Craft Products

The company was based in Wauconda, Illinois, and operated from 1981 to 1990, at which point it changed its name to Wood Werks Supply, which is still in business (though it's not the same Wood Werks Supply that's now in Columbus, Ohio). The Wauconda-based Wood Werks makes woodworking machinery. There was a Leroy Carlson involved in ACP at some time.

I own their 1:12 Victorian townhouse (the Golden Gate), as well as a 1:24 Queen Anne rowhouse and a 1:24 Victorian farmhouse (all unbuilt). eBay listings show them as the maker of Carlson's Old Time Store. They also made a gazebo kit, and perhaps were the company behind Realife Miniatures furniture kits.

Their Old Mercantile kit was unusual in using post-and-beam construction (more like a real house is built), but this method is not used on the kits I have.

Dura-Craft

This Oregon manufacturer went belly-up in April 2005. The company made both MDF and tab-and-slot kits, possibly sometimes the same house at different times. Lots of kits are available on the secondary market, so I'm not going to take a great deal of trouble to document them (at least not until I sort out which houses used which construction method).

Ibec

This Canadian manufacturer recently discontinued its entire line. As far as I can tell, the houses were 1:24 (the last USA retailer sells model railroading supplies, another clue). Trim or all of the house is likely to be cedar.

Perkins Manufacturing

I only know about this brand because I stumbled over some old boxes at Auntie Em's in Glendale, Arizona, and decided I had to take home the "guest house"! This is a one-room cottage with a porch; there is also an A-frame house. Both are scaled approximately 1:18. The houses are plywood, and they slot together with a very simple system that is almost stable without glue. My cottage is dated 1976.