While we now think of dollhouses as kids ’ stuff , for the wealthy Germans and Dutch of the sixteenth and 17th century they were more like cabinets of curiosities , fill up with precious woods and alloy and helping hand - crafted items made by skilled creative person . The Europeantraditioninfluenced British and American dollhouses , which are still being made with dumbfounding levels of particular , not to mention an astounding concentration of resources . Below , eight of the most amazing from around the world :
1. ASTOLAT DOLLHOUSE CASTLE
Milofree , Wikimedia Commons//CC BY - SA 3.0
Designed by Colorado miniaturist Elaine Diehl in the 1980s , this miniature plate was modeled after the castling in Lord Alfred Tennyson ’s “ Lady of the Shallot . ” Valued at $ 8.5 million — and said to be themost expensive dollhouseever — the tiny palace features 29 suite filled with chiliad of perfectly - put to work shrunken items , including rare volume , miniature cars , piece of jewelry , musical instruments , and even a mini - Dalmatian snoozing by the front ingress . It even has its own dance palace andwine cellar . And it ’s now onview in New York City .
2. TITANIA’S PALACE
Located in the magnificent Egeskov Castle in Denmark , Titania ’s Palacewas created by the British army officer Sir Nevile Wilkinson as a gift for his girl , Gwendolen , to serve as a home for the fairies she claimed to have regard in the garden . The dollhouse features 18 room , include a throne elbow room , a nursery , a chapel service complete with organ , and a regal dining room . Gwendolen was an adult by the time the dollhouse was completed , but Wilkinson march the dollhouse ( which was built by Irish artisan ) around the mankind to get up funds for children ’s charity . you may ascertain a1928 videoof Wilkinson represent the castle , or a far more recent telecasting in Danish with English subtitles below :
3. SARA ROTHÉ DOLLHOUSE
mickeymousestudio , Wikimedia Commons//CC BY - SA 2.0
Wealthy Amsterdam merchant ’s wife Sara Rothé created this11 - room dollhousein 1:10 musical scale , offer a coup d’oeil of the furniture and medallion you might line up inside a real eighteenth - C canal - side star sign . It ’s now on exhibit at the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem , Netherlands — also place to adollhouse “ collage ” exhibitfeaturing 71 rooms from seventeenth and 18th one C dollhouses . Asecond dollhouseRothé build is on display at the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag .
4. CHATEAU ANTOINETTE
Architectural historians and miniaturist Kevin Mulvany and Susie Rogers created this 6 - room , 16th - century doll’s house for a Californian collector with a passionate interest in Marie Antoinette . Only42 inch eminent , the chateau is a pastiche of places associated with Antoinette during her biography , and is filled with furniture and decoration made of crystal , gold , and silver . The declamatory chandeliers be over a thousand British pounds . Mulvany and Rogershave also miniaturized Versailles , Buckingham Palace , Hogwarts , Sans Souci , and several other amazing building from around the globe .
5. HUGUETTE CLARK’S JAPANESE DOLLHOUSE
Reclusive heiressHuguette Clarkcollected wench by the 100 , and commissioned tiny doll’s house models of Nipponese temples , castling , teahouses , cake workshop , and other building . ( She also collected Japanese artifact , an interest group that led to anFBI investigation during WWII . ) She specified that her dollhouses should have detachable roofs so she could see the furnishing inwardly . According to Bill Dedman and Paul Clark Newell Jr. ’s bookEmpty Mansions , one of Clark ’s Nipponese dollhouse required special license from the Japanese government to practice a rare cedar in general reserved for imperial construction and palace . That same doll’s house cost $ 80,000 and took three years to build .
6. TARA’S PALACE
Tara ’s Palaceat the Powerscourt Estate in Wicklow , Ireland , is a Georgian Palace built in 1:12 ordered series , featuring 24 rooms filled with miniature article of furniture and books , as well as treasures such as a17th - one C firm in a bottle . The ceilings are hand - painted , and the tiny floors of wood and marble were all built by hired man .
7. QUEEN MARY’S DOLLHOUSE
Rob Sangster , Wikimedia Commons//CC BY - SA 2.0
Built for Queen Mary by British architect Sir Edwin Lutyens between 1921 and 1924 , thisminiature townhouse on a 1:12 scalefeatures M of target made by leading creative person , designers , and craftsmen of the 1920s . There ’s a well - stock library and wine cellar , a garden , atoy theater , and about 1000 works of artistic creation , as well as running water , galvanising light , working elevator , flushing toilets , and a miniature work bicycle .
8. BOSDYK DOLLS HOUSE
Nowhoused at the Powerhouse Museumin Australia , the Bosdyk Dolls House was created by Frans and Christina Bosdyk in the grand tradition of 17th century Dutch dollhouses . The five - level , 20 - way theater take about a decade to produce , and comprise elements from Dutch and Australian biography from the 19th and early twentieth century . Frans Bosdyk , an electrical cat’s-paw maker , even constructed his own diminutive hand tools to make the pieces . The room let in a sewing room , gambling room , depository library , and kitchen .
