Madame Alexander’s Doll Company, New York

Photo © Ben Ostrowsky

Dolls are everywhere at Madame Alexander’s Doll Company in Harlem, New York. The daughter of Russian immigrants who ran a ‘doll hospital’, Bertha Alexander opened the company in 1923.

Nowadays, over 300 dolls sit in the heritage gallery. The workshop is a particularly spooky space: doll’s hair, heads and limbs lie around, and eye-less babies wait for attention. All designs are original and painstakingly hand-crafted. They range from classic baby dolls to The Beatles, Michelle Obama, Cruella De Ville, and bizarrely, a miniature homage to Psycho complete with a doll in the shower!

The gallery attracts collectors, kids and lovers of all things quirky, and has many celebrity fans from Oprah Winfrey to Britney Spears. You can take a tour to see how the dolls are made, or sign up for a workshop to do it yourself.

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Discuss

2 people are discussing this place!

  • Bob says:

    I’ve seen this place. The dolls are eerie but wonderful at the same time!

  • Anthony Elliott says:

    Is it like a miniature Madame Tussaud’s? But in shrink-wrap?