Seven floors. 29 rooms. A chapel, an observatory, a wine cellar, a weapons room, a ballroom, and a dovecote.
This extravagant property has an appraised value of more than $288,000 per square foot. It is not a traditional home, however — it is a 9-foot-tall (2.7 metre) miniature called the Astolat Dollhouse Castle.
With an estimated price tag of $8.5 million, the Astolat Dollhouse Castle is the world’s most expensive dollhouse. Built between 1974 and 1980 by artist Elaine Diehl, it contains more than 10,000 individual items — with a rotating collection of a further 30,000 passing through on an ongoing basis.
Diehl furnished the castle with paintings, mirrors, wooden floors, marble bathrooms, gold chandeliers, hand-stitched tapestries, vases in real lapis lazuli, and replicas of 18th-century oil paintings. The scale of the detail is extraordinary — and the price of individual items reflects it.
The first dollhouses date back to the 17th century, when they were seen not as children’s toys but as displays of fine craftsmanship. They were generally acquired by wealthy families in France, Germany, Holland, and England.
If you think tiny rhymes with affordable, think again. One of the Astolat Dollhouse Castle’s silver flatware sets is said to be worth $5,000. A drop-leaf secretary bookshelf has been valued at up to $2,500, while a miniature Hebrew Torah was reportedly worth up to $2,500 at the time it was purchased. So yes, even the smallest rooms in Astolat come with very grown-up price tags.
The Astolat Dollhouse Castle was sold in 1996 to Michael and Lois Freeman of Long Island. Their grandson is autistic, and the Freemans have used the castle as a fundraising vehicle for children’s charities, including research and treatment programmes supported by Autism Speaks and the Autism Treatment Network. The castle has been exhibited publicly on several occasions since then. More information: astolatdollhousecastle.com
Photos: Zack DeZon / Bloomberg
Fun Facts About the Astolat Dollhouse Castle
- At $288,000 per square foot, the Astolat Dollhouse Castle makes most luxury apartments in Midtown Manhattan feel like a bargain.
- The library contains tiny books with tiny text — readable under a magnifying glass.
- The bottles in the castle’s bar contain real liquor.
- The dumbwaiter in the kitchen is said to be in working order.
- The living room features a miniature rock collection and tiny taxidermy.
The Astolat Dollhouse Castle in Numbers
- Height: 9 feet (2.7 metres)
- Weight: over 800 pounds (360 kg)
- Rooms: 29
- Decor items: more than 10,000 (with 30,000 in rotation)
- Price: $8.5 million ($2,000 per square inch)
- Assembly time: 2 days, 12 people