Gretchen's Home

Pittsburgh PA: William G. Johnston Company, 1920. A die-cut litho on heavy card stock home with a quasi-tudor style. Complete in a glassine sleeve with directions for building affixed to the sleeve. Besides the pieces for the house includes a 2 1/2" figure; Gretchen to be cut-out and stood next to the house. Unused. Sleeve measures 14" x 10 1/2". The series has four houses and includes Gretchen's Home, Rita's Cottage, Chiquita's House and Toytown. William G. Johnston and Company, founded in 1857, was a well known Pittsburgh printing and book-binding firm in the late 1800s and early 1900s. William G. Johnston, the son of a prominent Pittsburgh printer was born August 22, 1828. He attended the Western University of Pennsylvania (now, the University of Pittsburgh) before organizing a party to head to California during the 1849 gold rush. In 1857, Johnston founded the William G. Johnston and Company at Wood St. and Second Ave. and later erected a new building at 900 Penn Ave. and Ninth St., Pittsburgh, to house the company. Johnston died on June 1, 1913.