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Greetings –
I want to share some pictures of a project I recently completed after a
couple of months of occasional work and multiple purchases from Brickbay.
I have built a LEGO version of the historic building Colonial Williamsburg’s
Powder Magazine.
Here are my pictures:
http://brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=4145
The Powder Magazine is one of the oldest, continuously standing buildings in
Williamsburg, having been constructed in 1714. It was built as a storage
facility for military supplies provided by the British government for the
protection of its colony in Virginia. Inventories from the period show that
at times it contained up to a few thousand muskets and hundreds of pounds of
gunpowder. The building, with its octagonal shape, is supposedly the design
of the then Royal Governor, Alexander Spotswood. The reconstructed wall
which surrounds the building today (but not in my model) was added as extra
protection during the French & Indian War (late 1750’s).
The Magazine was used as a military warehouse until late in the American
Revolution when the capital of Virginia was moved to Richmond. In the
intervening years between those events and the restoration of Williamsburg
in the 1920’s and 30’s, the building was used for a number of purposes such
as a market, stable, home and church.
In trying to recreate the Magazine in LEGO form I have built it as a mixture
between the way the building probably looked in the early 18th century
(before the outer wall was added) and the way it is set up as a museum
exhibit today. The basic layout of the building is the same as in colonial
times but as a warehouse, the inside would have consisted of stacks of
crates, barrels and kegs – the guns and other equipment would not have been
displayed in racks as they are today for visitors.
The building itself consists of three main rooms. The ground floor has two
rooms with no communication between them on the inside. The front room is
believed to have been used as the main powder storage room. This room also
provided access to the circular stairs that lead to the second floor.
The other room on the ground floor was the workshop where small repairs
(that didn’t require a forge) could be carried out. This room was also used
for storage of other tools and utensils necessary for military campaigns.
The second floor is the main storage area and it is here that the bulk of
the weapons would have been stored. Muskets, pistols, bayonets, swords and
halberds were all provided for the outfitting of a colonial militia during
times of trouble. The weapons were generally throwaways from the regular
British army with the main one being the famous Brown Bess flintlock musket.
The upper attic area under the roof (not shown in either my model or the
exhibit in the real building) is thought to have been used for the storage
of lighter supplies such as tents, blankets and cooking utensils.
During the mid-1980’s I worked at the Powder Magazine as a tour guide and
spent many hours crawling around and sitting inside it contemplating what a
great building it is (I now desperately want to build an octagonal house to
live in). Inevitably my ruminations would be disturbed by some atrociously
clad tourist popping up in front of me to ask questions such as, “So, did
they used to shoot Injuns out these windows?” or “Is this where the
Confederates and the Red Coats fought?” Even better were the ones who would
argue that “They didn’t have bricks back then!” or “Those guns can’t really
kill people!”
I’ve been planning the building of the Magazine for over a year now and
finally found the time to get started. One of the things that kept me from
diving in for a long time was trying to figure out how I could do the roof.
I knew that the hinged plates were my best bet but then it took me while to
assemble a collection of the grey wing pieces and then I was baffled by how
I was going to finish off the crown. I tried a couple of different designs
before going with the one you see in the pictures that makes use of slopes
and a stair-step design for the angled sides.
As for the angled sides – these were also another design challenge that I
thought about for a long time. At first I was thinking in terms of trying
to use either angled bricks or perhaps attaching straight walls with hinges.
The problem with the first idea is that it would take a small fortune to
amass enough red angled bricks and the problem with the second is that while
it might look better from the outside, I wouldn’t be able to put in floors
and details on the inside.
I was inspired to use the stair-step method for the sides after checking out
Nathan’s Mushroom Houses at last years’ Brickfest. After first starting
with a all-Red design I decided that it would look more authentic speckled
with tan and grey bricks. I think that overall the model came out pretty
good and I’ve happy with the results (just wish I could take some better
pictures).
Finally, (if you’re still with me after the preceding ramble) I posted a
couple of pictures of old postcards of the Magazine so that you can see what
the actual building looked like back in the early 20th century.
Hope you enjoy,
Greg
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Message has 6 Replies:
 | | Re: Model of Colonial Williamsburg's Powder Magazine
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| "Greg Perry" <supernerd23@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:GC5qBJ.4or@lugnet.com... (...) Williamsburg's (...) [snip] Greg: That is really nice. After hearing you describe it at the last RichLUG meeting, it's nice to see it. I looking forward to (...) (23 years ago, 23-Apr-01, to lugnet.build.arch)
| | | Re: Model of Colonial Williamsburg's Powder Magazine
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| (...) That is really cool Greg. American history is rich with ideas for LEGO creations. Lotta things I keep meaning to try and just haven't. It's nice to see another follow up and complete one of their own projects - an in such a great fashion. I've (...) (23 years ago, 24-Apr-01, to lugnet.build.arch)
| | | Re: Model of Colonial Williamsburg's Powder Magazine
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| That's a terrific looking model. I love the realism and interior detail. The brickwork is also probably the nicest I've seen done with Lego. -- Paul Davidson Greg Perry <supernerd23@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:GC5qBJ.4or@lugnet.com... (...) (...) (23 years ago, 25-Apr-01, to lugnet.build.arch)
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