Hit Hulu series “The Handmaid’s Tale” has come to a close after six seasons of twists, turns, and tragedies—signing off with an emotional finale episode that aired on May 27.

The show, which is based on Margaret Atwood‘s novel of the same name, starred a slew of A-list actors, including Elisabeth Moss, Alexis Bledel, and Joseph Fiennes, and captured the dystopian society of Gilead, a fictional evolution of the United States in which fertility rates have plummeted and women are forced to serve as natal slaves.

Ironically, though the series was set in a dystopian version of the U.S., much of the filming took place in and around Toronto, where much of the cast based themselves for six years while completing work on the groundbreaking show.

Several historic spots were regularly featured in the series, including the University of Toronto, the Toronto City Hall—as well as one very special private residence that served as the home of Fiennes’ character, Commander Fred Waterford, and his wife, Serena Joy Waterford, played by Yvonne Strahovski.

That property is located in Hamilton, Ontario, and boasts a storied history that extends beyond its first appearance in “The Handmaid’s Tale.”

According to Vintage Hamilton, the property was built in 1893 by banker John Stuart as a wedding gift for his daughter and her new husband, lawyer Patrick Bankier.

The home was built on the Inglewood Estate, an enormous plot of land owned by Stuart, and was named Ingleneuk.

After Bankier’s death in 1899, the home changed hands multiple times before it was purchased by the Holton family, who owned the dwelling for decades.

Despite its poignant history, by 1991, the home had been scheduled for demolition—with plans in place for a local developer to build condos on the land.

It was to be a sad end for the historic building, which was deemed one of the finest examples of Queen Anne architecture in the local area.

That is, until Cindy Hamielec and Kieran Killian stumbled across the home and fell in love with it, having spent years searching for the perfect dwelling for their family of six.

“When we walked in, my husband said, ‘No negotiating, give them what they want, this is the house,'” Hamielec recalled in a 2015 interview with local outlet Our Homes.

While the couple quickly realized that the home was meant for them, they were unaware until the day of the closing that their purchase saved the property from certain destruction.

Hamielec and Killian overhauled the seven-bedroom home soon after they bought it, then did another update to the kitchen after a pipe burst in 2014.

However, perhaps one of the most significant milestones in the home’s history came in 2017, when a production designer saw the property as the ideal dwelling to serve as the Waterfords’ home in “The Handmaid’s Tale.”

Elisabeth Williams explained to Houzz that she knew the home was the perfect pick because it had “a bit of a Boston feel,” which tied in perfectly to “The Handmaid’s Tale” storyline, which begins in the city and the surrounding area.

While the house’s exterior is featured prominently in many of the scenes in the first three seasons, before it is burned by Serena Joy in a violent act of rebellion, Williams noted that many of the interior shots were filmed on a sound stage in Toronto.

This, she explained, allowed producers more creative freedom with the design and aesthetic of the Waterfords’ home, which they wanted to have a dark and moody feel.

“Just as you can get a sense of someone’s personality by the way they decorate their house or by the clothes they wear, set design is supposed to tell the story of the characters that inhabit the sets,” Williams told Houzz.

“Each element is carefully chosen to give the audience a sense of what that character’s life is like beyond the dialogue and immediate action you see on-screen.”

Hamielec and Killian allowed the production team to update the interior spaces that would be filmed, including the living room, which was given a new coat of blue paint and several other aesthetic tweaks that better fit the Waterfords’ lifestyle.

The couple are understood to still own the dwelling, telling Houzz back in 2018 that they simply moved into a nearby hotel whenever shooting was taking place in their home.