Lights, bricks, action! This month’s social media cover photo is Zio Chao‘s massive and detailed build of an ornate mansion. The Residence for the Governor-General of Taiwan is a central government building in Zio’s hometown of Taipei, Taiwan, built in a European architecture style at the start of the 20th century.
I’ve been a fan of LEGO ever since I was a little boy. My sister however dabbled a bit in LEGO, had some fun with Barbie, and started collecting Playmobil. Playmobil always had my interest because they had so many different animals in their collection. Because it lacked, in my opinion, the creative building element I navigated more towards LEGO. There were however Playmobil themes that always have had my interest. I recollect going over to my niece’s house to play with her Victorian mansion. It was huge! The exterior was beautiful and on the inside, there was lots of space for the furniture. And boy there was a lot of furniture to decorate the lovely family home. Since I had already committed to LEGO I could only hope they would eventually also produce something of this kind. Although some of the modular buildings match the aesthetic, none of them match the grandeur of the Playmobil mansion. This creation by lepralego however did manage to capture the grandeur of the Victorian Playmobil building. However, it is not Victorian but Haussmann style. I do not have enough of an architectural background to know the difference. To me, they look very much alike. The building is so tall the 15 to 17 bricks tall trees look like twigs. This amazing building is fully furnished and ready for you to take a closer look inside.
I’ve really been digging buildings built with plate instead of bricks lately. When a builder uses that idea as a starting point, and then adds in other cool details and techniques the way Jellyeater1 has, then we’re usually in store for a pretty cool LEGO creation.
The overall layout of the old mansion is fantastic and the varied brickwork achieved by using plates of six different colours (not to mention the mixed in masonry bricks and round plates) adds an extra level of detail on what might have otherwise been flat walls. Other details abound to solidify the realism of the house: the ornate entryway, the numerous chimneys, and appropriately positioned drainpipes. My personal favourite details are those that give off the look of being abandoned: the boarded-up rose window, drapes flying out of the open windows, the ivy taking over the back wall, or the tree poking through the roof.
