(Douglas Whitney – School Street Variety)

A Miniature Snapshot in Time

by Pam North
Florida resident Douglas Whitney has an extensive background to enrich his interest in and enhance his creation of miniatures. As a design architect of record for thousands of buildings across 23 states in the USA, and with 39 years of experience as an architect in Maine and Florida, how could he miss? He also built a speedboat when he was 17 in Maine; he hand-painted all the 4' x 8' advertising signs for 25 advertisers for a Little League field when he was 18; and he spent a year in London, England as a college student studying at the Architecture Association in Bedford Square. Minis had to be a snap.
As a child, Doug’s first materials for creating miniature structures were found objects such as twigs and toothpicks, and in adulthood, he evolved into building model kits and dollhouses as a hobby to while away the long Maine winters. His career as an architect and designer brought specialization in retail, healthcare, and senior living projects, but he also has designed everything from a go kart track to a columbarium (a room or building with niches for funeral urns to be stored). Somehow he has managed to keep miniatures incorporated into his life, primarily because he loves them. “I enjoy both the process of thinking through how to do things, and the satisfaction of the completion of each project.” he remarked.
One of his notable pieces is the School Street Variety store, which came about from an ad for a contest, Real Good Toys’ General Store Challenge in 2019, with a theme of Shops Across America. Doug immediately remembered a store which had been located across the street from his house in Danvers, Massachusetts in the 1960s, and he envisioned creating a replica of it as an ideal entry. His successful interpretation of the store resulted in his winning a third place award. As a convenient shopping place for residents of the neighborhood for groceries and everyday staples, that small local store of his youth had been a vital spot in the community, and its re-creation emphasizes the fact that miniatures sometimes have an added validity by preserving a snapshot in time.
Doug started the project with a simple store kit that he adapted and customized for the replication, then he added the custom-made adjoining house to complement it, scaling down the footprint of the actual house to keep the size reasonable. While his original work is the dominant hallmark of the building, he did order the Coke signage decals from a licensed provider, and he also sought out and found unique store/grocery items and newspapers to place on the shelves. The primary materials used in the structure were wood and plastic. He implemented a drafting board to draw the lines of the wood clapboard siding, using a permanent marker in light gray, and a similar technique for the white lines of the blinds in the windows. Overall, it came out as he had hoped and envisioned.
His reason for undertaking the project was primarily for the sense of accomplishment, and he had fun finding and building the parts and pieces and imaging how they could all be assembled. Ultimately, his favorite part simply was enjoying looking at his duplication of the familiar storefront that once had been a familiar sight viewed from his living room windows so many years ago. His parents and siblings were amazed and amused by his creation, since they all were familiar with the corner store depicted in the contest entry. He even consulted with the former owners of the original store, and worked from actual photographs of the building.
Inspiration seems to come easily to him. “I have a life-long habit of being observant and picking out the details and unusual aspects of the environment around us, and that I think is the key,” he explained.
His workplaces are a carved-out portion of his garage, a hobby room at home, and sometimes his kitchen table where he can do repetitive detail work like adding shingles to a roof. There are special items he finds most valuable to use, declaring his adjustable radial arm saw to be his favorite power tool, and his inexpensive reading glasses as essential for detailed work. He cites the biggest difficulty involved with working in miniature as size: “I try to look for projects that will not be too large when they are completed.”
Doug doesn’t sell his creations, preferring instead to give them as gifts. He has made a couple of items that he has chosen to keep - the first two model classic cars made of metal that he had built when he was a teenager. He also values a special collection - over 2,000 items of vintage metal toy soldiers with dioramas from the 1930s-1940s and up to the 1970s.
His home life and career both encompass his passion for miniatures. “Model building has been a part of the design process with our company. We now, of course, have the ability to produce models in 3D using computer programs, but there is still something special about building a real three-dimensional model.”
The future of miniatures seems bright in his estimation. “Building miniatures is like hand-drawing; it always will be something that is interesting and engaging.”
New ideas beckon, and Doug admits to having a few projects lined up for the future, such as plans for upcoming dollhouses, when the timing is right and the spirit moves him.

Contact information:
Name: Douglas W. Whitney 
Email: doug.whitney@wbrcae.com
Website: www.wbrcae.com
Phone: 941-350-0690 (mobile)
Address: 11803 Clubhouse Drive Bradenton, FL 34202