This Historic Building In Massachusetts Was Displayed At the 1893 World’s Fair And Was Reconstructed Hundreds of Miles Away

Have you ever been out for a walk or a drive and encountered a building or home that fascinates you? One you just know has to have an interesting story buried deep within its walls. Massachusetts is filled with historic homes that keep the tales of the people who once resided in them. There is one such home like this on Netherlands Road in the town of Brookline, MA., appropriately named The Dutch House.

This intricately decorated brick building reminds me of a castle, but it was originally built to be a temporary exhibition hall for the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair (then named the Chicago World's Columbian Exposition).

The structure was modeled after the Franeker City Hall, which was erected in Franeker, Netherlands in 1591.

It served as a cocoa pavilion for the Netherlands’ Van Houten Cocoa Company which was one of the popular exhibitors at the fair.

More than 20 million people attended the extremely popular six-month-long festival that showcased such historic inventions as the Ferris Wheel and the elevator. In attendance was Brookline resident, Captain Charles Brooks Appleton.

Appleton was so enamored by the cocoa house that he decided to purchase it. He then had it dismantled, shipped to Brookline, and rebuilt. The rebuild included many of the house’s original historical features.

In 1986, the Dutch House was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is one of the few remaining original structures from the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. It is now used as a residential building. The city of Brookline named the street upon which it resides, Netherlands Road.

Because the house is used as a private residence, you can not tour the exterior. However, there is a lot of gorgeous architecture to view from the outside. The home has gone through several updates over the past fifteen years. Old photographs were used as a tool to help capture and restore the beauty of the original structure.

If you have visited the Dutch House in Brookline? What did you think of it? The Brookline area also has some great hiking trails that I suggest looking into. Two of these are the Lost Pond Trail and the Bridge To Nowhere. The Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site is also a beautiful place to spend a leisurely afternoon.