Subject:
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Re: Model of Colonial Williamsburg's Powder Magazine
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.build.arch
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Date:
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Sun, 22 Apr 2001 01:30:37 GMT
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Viewed:
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750 times
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Hey Greg-
Sweet looking stuff, I live about 30 minutes east of Williamsburg and have
been by the Powderhouse many times. It is cool to see some local stuff
(other than my LEGO City) made out of LEGO!
~Chris Fortier
www.chrisfortier.com
In lugnet.build.arch, Greg Perry writes:
> 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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