Last month, Australia’s Parliament House celebrated the 30th anniversary of its opening by, among many activities, playing host to a LEGO rendition of itself by Aussie LEGO Certified Professional Ryan “Brickman” McNaught. This November saw America’s turn to immortalize an important government building in LEGO, displayed at its real-life counterpart.
Last Monday, a LEGO scale model of the White House was unveiled at the real White House’s Visitors Center. The monumental MOC was a project envisioned by the National Park Service and White House Historical Association, with respective representatives and that from the Danish Embassy presiding over the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Actual design of the LEGO White House was courtesy of project coordinator Andrew Little from exhibit consultant Creatacor. No less than four LEGO Master Builders went to work assembling the 1:30 scale brick-built model at the LEGO North America HQ itself in Enfield, Connecticut, a process that took over 825 hours assembling over 100,000 pieces.
NPS Superintendent John Stanwich hopes a LEGO version of the White House would spark interest about the national landmark and Presidential residence in a new generation of children. Andrew Little himself noted that during the ribbon-cutting, Visitors Center security had to cordon curious families from approaching the exhibit table until the ceremony was over with.
The LEGO White House is part of a larger LEGO Exhibit of models of other historic structures called the Americana Roadshow, opening February next year in Albany, New York. This model will remain in the White House Visitors Center until the end of January 2019, before it joins the other LEGO models in Albany in time for the Roadshow opening.