400,000 LEGO bricks, 12 months of work and a LOT of late nights
A massive replica of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is believed to be that largest single LEGO structure ever built by a single person.
It took a full year to build and we think you’ll agree it’s pretty phenomenal.
The single person responsible for this creation is (pictured above with the completed Hogwarts), from the US city of Seattle, whose twin loves of LEGO and the world of Harry Potter led her to create something a little bit special.
"I was inspired of course by the books of which I am a tremendous fan, but also by the official Lego Harry Potter sets," Alice told breakingnews.ie.
" I wanted to build more accurate models since I’ve been to Oxford and have visited many of the places where they filmed (the Harry Potter movies)."
Alice said she wanted to build a more "architecturally accurate" version than the off-the-shelf LEGO sets, with four walls and a roof.
However as the mother of two young boys, it was also important to her that the creation not be just a 'look but don't touch' model.
"It had to be completely playable," she said. "The buildings have playable spaces where my kids and I can have Hogwarts adventures.
"I let my boys play with it as that is the other main reason why I built it."
"I did lots of research in the books and the movies to try to find the best way to align the incongruities," Alice told us.
"I also visited the Harry Potter Studio Tour in London to see the sets and props in person."
Alice's skill and dedication has not only been appreciated by her family, but also by other LEGO aficionados.
Her Hogwarts took home both the “People’s Choice” and “Best in Show” awards at the Brickcon 2012 convention in Seattle.
But where did Alice find the time to create something like this?
"It was built in 12 months over a year and a half, mostly late into the night after my kids were asleep," she said.
Where did all that LEGO come from?
"I purchased most of the Lego in bulk either by the box from my Lego store or from online," Alice told us.
"I have all the official Lego Harry Potter sets but they are all intact."
As to how much the whole thing cost, Alice isn't saying.
"I do not know how much it costs and I don’t really want to know, although lots of other people do," she told The Brothers Brick.
Most of the tan-coloured bricks were ordered by the box, and many other parts by the hundreds or thousands from all over the world.
"For example, most of the sand green roof slopes came from Germany," she said.
So now that it's all done, what does Alice plan to do next?
You'll be glad to hear that smashing it all up again isn't on the agenda right away...
"I don’t plan on taking it apart anytime soon," she said.
"My younger son still has a while before he is old enough to read the books and fully enter the world of Harry Potter. "
