Canal House

As not all of you will be familiar with the dollshouse I am working on, I will share some pictures of it with you over the next few weeks.

This is my dollshouse six years ago, after I had just bought it. In the bottom right hand corner you can just see my son, who had started off my interest in miniatures when he asked for a miniature Christmas village to put up under the Christmas tree.

With no knowledge about miniatures or techniques I started work on the canal house. I get a lot of enjoyment out of figuring out how to do something within my limitations, for a lot of times I don't have the right materials at hand, or the right tools or the right skills!

Although I might do some things differently now, I like to see the work I did on the house in those earlier years. It's all part of the process.


I decided my dollshouse would be situated on one of Amsterdam's famous canals, the Singel. Many canal houses were built in the 17th century and were often changed after the latest fashions through the centuries.

Here's a drawing I made of how my house may have looked at the beginning of the 18th century.
The detailed drawings of the stoop are actual architectural drawings which I found in the Amsterdam archives.



So this is where I let the story of my house begin: In 1742 the house is bought by a wealthy widow, Martha van Grootheest de Kleijne, who made her fortune in the tea trade. The 17th century canal house was remodelled by Martha after the latest 18th century fashion when she had Rococo style elements added to the house. In Holland the expression of the Rococo style was not as abundant as in France, where the style originated.


Even though I do a lot of research on things like the architectural and social history of the time, and I try to tie together facts and the fiction of my house, I am not trying to be historically correct. I'm just having fun.