History of Wooden Dollhouses


The history of wooden dollhouses goes back about five thousand years ago. Some of the earliest known dollhouse examples were found in ancient Egyptian tombs, which date back to nearly five thousand years. The wooden models were of servants, livestock, boats, furnishings, and pets that were probably made for religious reasons.

In Europe, some of the earliest known dollhouses were cabinet displays cases built in the Sixteenth century. These cabinet dollhouses were known as baby houses and were owned by wealthy families in Holland, England and Germany. They showed interiors complete with detailed furnishings and accessories. These types of dollhouses weren’t used by children, in fact they were off-limits to the children. The cabinet display cases were considered trophy collections, so to protect the collections, children weren’t allowed to touch the baby dollhouses.

With the advent of the Industrial Revolution, dollhouses began to be mass produced. The mass production also included the miniatures suitable for furnishing the wooden dollhouses. Germany, England and the United States were the three countries that lead the manufacturing of dollhouses.

Until World War I, Germany was the leading nation with the most prized dollhouses. Productions from German companies such as Märklin, Rock and Garner were collected in Central Europe and also exported to Britain and North America. World Ware I, however, impeded Germany’s ability to both produce and export the dollhouses, which then allowed companies in other countries to begin manufacturing and exporting dollhouses.

Several American companies began to manufacture dollhouses around 1917, many based on the American antique homes and furniture. In Japan, dollhouses were also being manufactured, mainly copying the German designs.

After World War II, dollhouses were manufactured on a much larger scale, however, the detail and craftmanship suffered as a result of the mass production. Many of the dollhouses were made of painted sheet metail and included plastic furniture. This made them cheaper to sell so many of the girls in the developed Western world would be able to own one.

Today you can easily find dollhouses in many places and their are dedicated stores to the hobby. The wooden dollhouse kits are not cheap, and the price of completed wooden dollhouses can be extremely high, easily several thousand dollars. Creating dollhouses has always been an art form, that is as alive today as it was hundreds of years ago.