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Dollhouses are both a toy and a document of the time as they reflect the time in which they were made. Old dollhouses provide an insight into how people lived and lived during different eras and what style ideals were pursued. Many large museums such as the Nordic Museum in Stockholm and the British Museum in London have several in their collections. The Nordic Museum in Stockholm has the oldest known Swedish dollhouse, a Carolingian manor from the 17th century.

The early dollhouses were not intended to be played with at all, they were instead fine and sought-after works of art for people who were wealthy. By having dollhouses and expensive mechanical toys in your home, you showed that you had class and style and were trend-conscious. One example is the beautiful dollhouse that the Swedish King Gustav II Adolf received as a gift after liberating the German city of Augsburg in 1632. This is preserved in the Gustavianum in Uppsala. However, the dollhouse is more like a miniature museum full of various objects and antiques. It is said that it was so advanced that the gift even included a carpenter, who would maintain the dollhouse on site.

The oldest dollhouses preserved outside of Sweden were made in Germany in the 17th century, but there are several descriptions of even older dollhouses. The early German dollhouses looked more like a typical narrow house of the time than a cabinet. When you opened it, you could see what a German bourgeois home looked like. During the 19th century, dollhouses changed from being objects of art to becoming more like toys. They were still specially commissioned crafts for the bourgeoisie and children were supervised by their parents when they played with them. The whole family could gather to decorate and furnish the cabinets. And there was still a kind of prestige in being able to show off a beautiful dollhouse to your guests.

When industrialization took off in the late 19th century, it became easier to manufacture dollhouses and the German toy manufacturers in Nuremberg began to make cheaper cabinets and dollhouse furniture that more people could afford. In Sweden, both Gemla and Brio made fine dollhouse furniture. We should also not forget the modern and successful Lundby dollhouses that many have played with, and still play with.

At the Stockholm Toy Museum, there are dollhouses in many different styles and from different origins and manufacturers.