Oliver W. Olson, Ballard Architect, `Found His Love In Doll Houses'

For six years, Ollie's Little Doll House Factory in Ballard gave its owner, Oliver W. Olson, and several other retired friends a reason to get up in the morning and a place to go - for there was always work to be done.

Set up in Mr. Olson's architectural office on Northwest Market Street, the factory was no ordinary business.

A potbellied stove kept the room warm and fresh coffee kept conversation flowing among the six friends who met early every morning to visit and build doll houses.

Mr. Olson ran the shop. Everyone had specific duties, including painting and installing the electrical wiring that went into the miniature houses.

"It started with Dad's friends coming to visit and congregating at the office," said Jim Olson, Mr. Olson's son. "Well, he'd put them to work on the doll houses and give them something to do."

The crew worked for nothing, donating their work to charities that sold raffle tickets for the houses, often raising thousands of dollars.

People would see the men at work through the window and stop in to admire the houses. The factory was Mr. Olson's life, say friends and family.

But tragedy stuck last September, when the factory and 12 carefully crafted doll houses were destroyed by arson.

Although shocked and saddened by the loss, Mr. Olson planned to rebuild. He never got that chance.

Three weeks after the fire, Mr. Olson was diagnosed with cancer, and he died Sunday at 79.

"The fire broke his heart," said Jim Olson, of Federal Way.

But even a week before his death, Mr. Olson had plans to rebuild, said his daughter, Janet Carrell of Vancouver, B.C.

"He was really stripped of his business and his health, but he wasn't willing to give up," she said. "Even last week, the calls were still coming in about the doll houses."

A lifelong Seattle resident, Mr. Olson attended Lincoln High School and the University of Washington, where he studied architecture.

He married his wife, Ruth, in 1940 and built their home in Ballard with used lumber and shipping crates bought during World War II.

"He practiced recycling before it even became fashionable," said his wife. "During the war, it was hard to find materials, so my husband bought boards with the nails still in them. He pulled those nails out and pounded them straight to use for the house."

Mr. Olson later worked as a draftsman in downtown Seattle before starting an architectural partnership in the early 1950s with Bjarne Olsen in Ballard.

The partnership broke up after a few years, and Mr. Olson started his own practice from the office, where he worked until the fire.

During his 46 years of practice, he designed several buildings, including churches, in the Northwest, including Northwestern Industries near Fisherman's Terminal.

In 1986, while semi-retired, Mr. Olson started building doll houses. From then on, he and his friends met every morning to work on the houses.

"At first we called it the chat-and-chew club," said longtime buddy Will Odsather, who was in charge of painting the houses. "It was a good thing. Ollie was all heart. He didn't know how good he was."

Mr. Olson and his friends gave the houses to such charities as the Ballard Lions Club, Seattle Milk Fund, Ronald McDonald House, Scottish Rite Center for Speech Disabilities, Columbia Lutheran Home and the Norse Home.

The houses, which varied in style, typically stood about 3 feet high and 4 feet wide and included details like hand-split shakes for the roofing, working chandeliers and windows that opened.

"He was still designing buildings at 75, but he found his love in doll houses," Carrell said. "He liked the construction, manipulating and designing. He had all the little tools in his office so he could build them as he wanted."

Besides his wife and two children, Mr. Olson is survived by five grandchildren.

Services were to be held today, at Our Redeemer's Lutheran Church, 2400 N.W. 85th St. Remembrances may be made to the church or Lincoln High School Scholarship Fund.