Add The New York Post on Google At $329,000 per square foot, this New York home is the most valuable real estate anywhere.
It boasts 29 rooms, and 10,000 pieces of ornate furniture and other objects inside, plus a grand piano and a working elevator.
But it is only 9 feet tall, and measures 25.8 square feet.
It’s the world’s greatest dollhouse, worth at least $8.5 million.
Called the Astolat Dollhouse Castle after Elaine of Astolat in Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poetry, the dazzling structure was built over 13 years and completed in 1987 by commercial artist Elaine Diehl along with other artisans.
It was purchased in 1996 by PhD psychologist Dr. Michael Freeman, who displayed it at his Kings Point, Long Island home before putting it in storage.
Now Freeman, 80, and his wife, Lois, are pondering what to do with their precious residence.
Freeman dreams it ends up at the most prestigious address in the country — 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
“I would love it to be in the new White House Ballroom, for future generations to enjoy. This would represent World-class American art created by an American woman,” he told The Post.
Astolat is filled with miniatures — like tiny bottles filled with real alcohol, jewelry with genuine gemstones, replicas of 18th-century oil paintings, and a grand piano valued alone at $7,000.
There is also a cornucopia of miniature food, such as a roast turkey with all the trimmings, and tiny books with pages that can actually be read.
“The Bible … is an antique 1811 thumb Holy Bible bound with rare, early American leather, complete with miniature woodcut illustrations,” Freeman said.
The house is stocked with pricey furniture and accessories — but no dolls — including an English oak kitchen table, a gilt French Baroque table with marble top, a brass birdcage with canary, a silver carving set, and a Victorian globe with gold-plated brass stand.
“Elaine commissioned some of the best miniaturists on the planet to create hundreds of original artworks for Astolat. These are about 1 inch by 1 inch,” Freeman said.
Freeman and his wife, Lois, a dollhouse collector who owned 80 already, first laid eyes on Astolat at Diehl’s shop in Sedona, Ariz., and were immediately smitten.
Although he won’t divulge how much he shelled out for the one-of-a-kind piece, he did say it was a “ridiculous” amount.
“Lois asked her how much. Elaine gave a ridiculous answer. I heard the amount and said — knowing this would top off my wife’s lifelong passion — ‘Sounds fair to me.’ Elaine and my wife were both shocked,” he recalled.
He then hired a driver to bring the precious cargo back to their Long Island home, and bought a first-class airline ticket for Diehl and an assistant to come to New York to show them how to piece the house together, which he said is “no easy task.”
“We have never turned the elevator on — we considered it too risky for not much gain. The electrical system is highly sophisticated, with two levels of voltage and enough variability to create ‘night’ lighting and other effects,” he said.
Now, 30 years after the purchase, Freeman just wants to make sure the dollhouse — which was on display at the Time Warner Center in 2015 and visited by more than 30,000 people — ends up in a “good home.”
“It needs to go where it will be most appreciated.”
