A dollhouse or doll’s house is a toy home made in miniature. For the last century, dollhouses have primarily been the domain of children but their collection and crafting is also a hobby for many adults.
Today’s dollhouses trace their history back about four hundred years to the baby house display cases of Europe, which showed idealized interiors. Smaller dollhouses with more realistic exteriors appeared in Europe in the 18th century.
Early dollhouses were all handmade, but following the Industrial Revolution and World War II, they were increasingly mass-produced and became more standardized and affordable. Dollhouses can range from simple boxes stacked together used as rooms for play, up to multimillion-dollar structures displayed in museums.
When you think of dollhouses, you probably think back to what you had as a kid. Maybe you had a Victorian-era model with beautiful sloping roofs, or perhaps you had a more traditional two-story house — the kind you might see in your neighborhood. Chances are, however, you’ve never seen anything like this: the Astolat Dollhouse Castle.
This magnificent, opulent dollhouse is 5′ tall, weighs more than 800 lbs and is valued at $8.5 million!
It contains over 29 rooms, took two years to engineer and more than 12 years to build. Features include 29 rooms, a miniature grand piano worth more than $7,000, a drop leaf desk valued at more than $5,000, a mini 1949 Jeep station Wagon at nearly $3,500, and a hand-painted portrait worth $1,840!
Now for the first time ever, the dollhouse is going on tour and will be open to the public this holiday season, with proceeds benefiting children’s charities!
What do you think of the owner spending all that money to build a dollhouse that is valued at $8.5 million dollars? Use the comments section below and share your thoughts. We’d love to hear from you!
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