The first time I was ever able to go to a LEGO store, I walked out of there with a modular set. I was on a work trip to the Seattle area back when I lived in Indiana, and I remember being so excited driving back to the hotel from Bellevue with 10211 Grand Emporium sitting in the backseat. I knew that it would still be weeks until I would be back home building it, but I couldn’t care less. Since then, the Modular Buildings Collection has had a special place in my heart. And while I’m not the kind of builder to keep them all assembled on a shelf, I still see them as the pinnacle of architectural design at minifigure-scale. So, with the impending release of the new LEGO Icons 10326 Natural History Museum, let’s see how it measures up to the rest of its kin. With 4,014 pieces, this is the largest of the modular buildings to date. It’s currently available for pre-order on the LEGO website, with release on December 1, retailing for US $299.99 | CAN $389.99 | UK £259.99.

The LEGO Group sent The Brothers Brick an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.

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The box and contents

With that oh-so-familiar band of white bricks at the bottom of this LEGO Icons box, we’re greeted with a splendid front-view of the modular building. All seven minifigs adorn the front of the structure, along with the removable Brachiosaurus exhibit. In the upper right corner, we have the Modular Buildings Collection graphic: an outline of the last three modular buildings to be released. Eagle-eyed readers familiar with our 10312 Jazz Club review from last year can see that the outline of 10225 Assembly Square has been replaced by the museum.

Flipping the box around, we can see the museum surrounded by its modular friends the Jazz Club and 10297 Boutique Hotel. Below that are detail images of the set, showing how all three stories fit together, the curator’s rooftop office, and a few of the exhibits.

After cutting the tape along the side flap, I find 34 bags (33 numbered and one blank), two baseplates, a pair of banners of printed plastic to hang on the front of the structure, and a beefy instruction book. The first few pages have a foreword by model designer Chris McVeigh. Chris has long been one of my favorite model designers working for LEGO, always fitting some awesome techniques into his designs. I also took a close-up shot of the banners, as they’re quite an excellent inclusion and such a better solution than a sticker (none of which are used in the set). I’ll have pictures of all the bags as we use them in the build.

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The build

We begin where all modular sets begin: with a sturdy base. Bags 1-4 and the two baseplates are utilized for this first layer. These parts tile the first floor in medium nougat and tan, form the front steps, and create two gardens to either side of the main entrance. While this finished step is rather boring, an Easter egg exists in the museum’s foundation before it’s covered by the floor. Someone appears to have lost a whole dinosaur leg under the building. Maybe it’s the French bulldog’s secret stash….

Next up are bags 5-8, building up the dark tan walls of the first floor, as well as setting up the gift shop desk and several exhibits. The base of the two large white pillars can be seen to either side of the entrance, as well as the start to the back office and restroom in the rear of the museum. While you’ll see all the exhibits take shape as we walk through the build portion, they’re all getting their own section afterward with some better photos.

Bags 9-14 finish off the rest of the first floor, cramming in even more exhibits (including the massive Brachiosaurus), and some Earth science displays. The front now has a lovely wrought iron fence, as well as fully-fledged gardens and statues of Mr. History and Lady Science. White pillars have been erected upon their plinths, and the technique here is excellent. As is the design of the staircase at the back of the model, utilizing roof slopes to get those ninety-degree steps.

Moving on to the second story, I crack open bags 15-18 and the unlabeled back of white 2×16 plate. These parts combine to form the base of the level, a good portion of back wall, and seven exhibits. From the news release, I’ve read some criticism regarding the placement of the Brachiosaurus and the general lack of a central rotunda display area, as is typical in museum setups. At this point in the build, it’s clear how untenable such a design would be, reducing the number of exhibits significantly and negatively effecting the placement of the staircase. I feel like the centralized placement of the orrery (solar system model) is a fitting substitute to a centralized dino.

The conclusion of floor #2 comes quickly with bags 19-24 and the printed banners. Olive green walls surround the rest of the exhibits, and the front pillars are capped with capitals of the Ionic type. We get another set of those beautiful stairs up to the roof, and the banners look wonderful when finally secured in place. I added in an extra shot of the first and second stories together so you can see how the whole thing is coming together.

Onward to bags 25-28 as the roof comes into being. The primary feature of this level is the curator’s office in the central dome. It features a map, typewriter, books, a lamp, compass, scrolls, and preserved plant. I wanted to get a shot of it before the rest of the dome formed around it. The horizontal door built into the roof lines up with the staircase from floor two.

Bags 29-31 finish out most of the roof, adding in plenty of skylights to brighten up the exhibits below. The dome is completed around the curator’s office, though the door section is removable to allow easy access. And a telescope is added for the curator to ponder the heavens. You may be wondering what the pink and white bits are at this point. All will become clear in the final stage of the build!

Finally, we conclude the build with bags 32 and 33. These contain the parts for the final bit of roof over the front steps – a glorious bit of McVeigh engineering. Other finishing details like the pink and white tree out front (shedding its petals like crazy), the window cleaner’s scaffolding, mailbox, and park bench come to light in the last gasps of the instruction manual.

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The minifigures

We’ll save the finished build for later, and instead first talk about those LEGO-fied people populating the set. 10326 Natural History Museum comes with seven minifigures (excluding the two statues). The cast of characters include two museum employees, the curator, three museum patrons, and a window washer. Front and back shots of the figs are below. The prosthetic leg mold is a fantastic part and a welcome inclusion, having only appeared in 60347 Grocery Store and 60364 Street Skate Park so far. I also love the torso print on the museum curator. A part of me hopes that this is actually Dr. Charles Lightning working his day job when not out in the field with Johnny Thunder.

For the animal lovers, the set also includes a French bulldog and two birds. Please note that this isn’t a pug, as I identified it in the news post earlier this week. Everyone has knowledge blind spots, and one of mine just happens to be dog breeds. I can feel your judgment through the screen, but I shall soldier on with the review.

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The exhibits

Now lets take a look at all the exhibits in this museum. On the instruction page for each exhibit, there’s a brief description of what it represents in almost all circumstances. This did leave me to guess a bit, so please forgive any misinterpretations. The first floor is broken into two sections, one covering paleontology and the other Earth science. The paleontology display has a sabretooth tiger skull, ammonite fossil, fantastic brachiosaurus skeleton, dinosaur eggs, and some prehistoric poop. The Earth science display features some clay pots, but it looks like one of them took a tumble. There’s also a diagram of the Earth’s layers, some rock specimens, and a model volcano.

Heading up to the second floor, we move into modern history, and things get a bit more meta. This display includes standard objects like a launch trajectory diagram, display rocket, ship’s anchor, solar system model, telescope, and asteroid model (I guess). But amongst these displays are callbacks to moments in modern LEGO history, like Pirates, 6054 Forestmen’s Hideout, 375-2 Castle, and 6970: Beta I Command Base.

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The finished model

The Natural History Museum is a build definitely on-par with Assembly Square, filling the same footprint with a heaping helping of building. But unlike its mega-modular predecessor, the museum feels like a more cohesive creation. As a result, there are certainly fewer opportunities for outward-facing points of interest, but with a packed interior and such an on-theme overall design, it has all the markings of other successful modular buildings.

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Conclusions and recommendations

There’s not a lot more to say except this is a stupendous build! The price feels right for what you’re getting, the set is beautifully designed, it offers loads of play features while still being an excellent display piece alongside the other modular buildings on the block. There are certainly some criticisms to be leveled against the price when compared to other modulars in the series. But I reserve those comments for trends in the modular buildings collection, and not this specific set, which from the beginning was always going to be the next Assembly Square. A big set carries a big price tag, and this one thankfully doesn’t soar to absurd heights like other recent sets. And while I’m not a modular collector that feels compelled to get every single one, the Natural History Museum definitely makes the cut for me.

However, I would be remiss to conclude the review without addressing one minor criticism of the set. Upon completing the second story’s meta displays, I was sad that this same pattern didn’t exist on the ground floor. A mummy from the Adventurers line, Rock Raiders references in the geology display, a skeleton of the Technic T-rex from the LEGO House – if modern LEGO history exists, then early LEGO history must also be a thing. I would’ve loved to see both sides represented in the museum.

Available on December 1 from LEGO’s website, or available for pre-order right now, LEGO Icons 10326 Natural History Museum is made of 4,014 pieces and retails for US $299.99 | CAN $389.99 | UK £259.99.

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The LEGO Group sent The Brothers Brick an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.

Here’s all the pictures from the review: