Barbie Dreamhouses

Barbie was born in 1962 and three years later moved into her first Barbie’s Dreamhouse. It was a folding ranch house made of cardboard, built for a down-to-earth, independent Midwestern girl.

Barbie wasn’t destined to live without fancier digs for long. Perenially-single, she held her own mortgage and kept movin’ on up.

Learn About Barbitecture

To celebrate her influence on American design and architecture, Mattel collaborated with the design magazine PIN-UP on a limited-edition art book, “Barbie Dreamhouse: An Architectural Survey.”

“Barbie’s house is infinitely more exciting than Barbie herself,” writes Elvia Wilk, a cultural critic. “The structures we live within — fantasize about living within — say more about our lives and dreams than plastic bodies ever will.”

The New York Times breaks down the Barbitecture story with A Six-Decade Tour of Barbie’s Dreamhouses and AOC gifts readers the link.

Wilk is one of many critics who contribute to the book’s analysis of Barbie’s huge influence on American culture.