Button HouseFreida Warther (1891-1988)

Freida Warther began collecting buttons as a young girl, eventually amassing over 100,000 of every type, including buttons made of pearl, ceramic, rubber, celluloid, and metal. Married to Ernest “Mooney” Warther, who became known for his elaborate wooden carvings, Freida started to sew buttons onto cards, in detailed designs, in her late sixties. She invented her own motifs and sometimes replicated traditional quilt patterns. Eventually, she installed her button “tiles” on to the walls and ceiling of a small room—a “button house”—at their Dover, Ohio home. Her creation remains on view at the Warther Museum.

~Holly Metz

Buttons of all types hand-sewn in patterns on board, then affixed to the walls and ceilings of a room

331 Karl Ave
Dover, OH, 44622 us
Latitude/Longitude: 40.5255339 / -81.4879369

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