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Massachusetts dollhouse shop that did work for Taylor Swift claims to be biggest in world

New Bedford dollhouse shop says it's largest in the world, showcasing 100 tiny houses
New Bedford dollhouse shop says it's largest in the world, showcasing 100 tiny houses 02:01

NEW BEDFORD - A Massachusetts man turned a childhood fascination into what he says is the world's largest dollhouse shop. It even led to doing some work for Taylor Swift.

"I started my fascination with dollhouses when I was, like, 7 years old," Nathaniel Ellis told WBZ-TV. He opened Flip This Dollhouse in New Bedford in 2011 and he's never looked back.

"I fell in love with them and I never got one until I was 18 and I started hoarding them. I bought two at first and over maybe the course of 10 years, I had 30 dollhouses in my private collection."

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Nathaniel Ellis with one of the dollhouses at his shop in New Bedford, Massachusetts. CBS Boston

"There's 100 dollhouses in stock right now and everything is handmade and wooden. A lot of these houses were made by someone's father or grandfather or whoever. They take a lot of time, it takes months and months to build a dollhouse."

Taylor Swift project

Ellis says he now owns the biggest dollhouse shop in the world and that he's collaborated with celebrities on that journey. He said his dollhouses have appeared in plays, music videos and on TV shows like "The Gilded Age" and "The Fatal Flaw." Ellis said he even designed a backdrop for Taylor Swift.

"Probably the biggest, most exciting thing that ever happened was when I provided dollhouse furniture for a Taylor Swift backdrop video for her most recent tour, the Eras tour," said Ellis. According to his website, the dollhouse appeared during the song "Bad Blood."

"Brings joy to so many people"

All of the dollhouses in the shop have their own feel and charm, including a model of the Nathaniel Hawthorne House in Salem.

"This one's incredible, it's really museum quality because it was built like a real house. In the walls is actually studs and framing," said Ellis. "The floorboards were actually nailed individually, the electricity was run like a real house."

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A Victorian dollhouse at Flip This Dollhouse in New Bedford, Massachusetts. CBS Boston

"My favorite dollhouse in the shop is this one, it's called the Joseph Angel and it's just a really elaborate Queen Anne Victorian with all of the trim and the tower and the gables. It has 18 rooms."

Ellis said he loves sharing his dream with others.

"It's so exciting because this hobby brings joy to so many people. So I really feel like I'm doing something cool here."

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