the house was built for jacob hop, mayor of amsterdam, around 1685. he was not the last mayor to own the house. in 1739 the outside was redesigned to look as it does today, in the then fashionable louis xiv style. in 1895, its owner, louisa holthuysen, bequeathed the building and its contents, including the art collected by her and her husband, abraham willet, to the city of amsterdam on condition that it became a museum bearing their names.