Hometown Hollow

The attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 and the United States' entry into WWII stopped the flow of Japanese Christmas goods. The phrase "Made In Japan" became unwelcome for the duration and the years immediately following. USA based companies stepped in to try to fill the gap in Christmas decorations while operating under the wartime manufacturing restrictions on materials.

Coleman & Morris (Colmor) of Port Chester, New York was one company that added Christmas houses to their inventory. The advertisement pictured dates from 1947 and shows that "Xmas Houses" were being manufactured.

The printed exteriors of Colmor houses featured a consistent design style and color palette bringing a cohesive look to the sets and making them easily identifiable. Additionally, the reverse of each design featured a small Colmor pennant logo as seen in the 1947 ad.

Colmar also partnered with Sears to produce and distribute houses under Sears' Happi Time label.

It is one set of these Happi Time houses that served as the inspiration for the first houses in the Hometown Hollow series.

Detail of a Sears Happi Time box with illustrations of the six Colmor houses it contained.

Coleman & Morris aka "Colmor"
Advertisement circa 1947

Working from online images and photographs provided by other collecting friends, I designed my version of six of the Colmor houses. Of note with this series is the consistency of size of the bases and the limited number of actual structure variations. The full range of the line is realized in the variations of the designs, not the diversity of architecture.

Since completing the original six designs, I have started working on additional original designs to expand the line while maintaining the look and feel of the originals.

I hope you enjoy the Hometown Hollow gallery below