kjm161

[MOC] The Lion and The Rose / Livraria Lello

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40112094403_a54b11e387_b.jpgThe Lion and The RoseLivraria Lello A by Karen Metz, on Flickr

I have attempted to recreate one of the most beautiful book stores in the world in Lego.  The Livraria Lello in Porto Portugal was built in 1906 by the engineer Xavier Esteves.  It was founded by the brothers José and António Lello. I have renamed my MOC “The Lion and The Rose” since these can be found throughout my creation.

46353256034_d9a59aaa6d_b.jpgThe Lion and the Rose/ Livraria Lello 2 by Karen Metz, on Flickr

33201798288_560b90ea52_b.jpgThe Lion and the Rose / Livraria Lello 4 by Karen Metz, on Flickr

The Livraria Lello features one of the most exquisite staircases ever created that appears to float within the building. This iconic red staircase, with its ornate decorations that adorn its facade, is at the centre of my MOC and the rest of building was built around it.

40112111143_41fc2f2e7f_b.jpgThe Lion and The Rose / Livraria Lello C by Karen Metz, on Flickr

“Thou who walked the room, shall then see a staircase which is a piece of surprising allure, for its apparent lightness which masks the audacity of its design. One feels the urge to climb it yet fears one’s weight may make it crumble.” (in Catálogo 1930 of Livraria Lello).

JK Rowling, who frequented the book store in the early 1990s is said to have been inspired by them when writing Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.  A few the the characters from her novels can be seen browsing books  in my MOC.

46163507445_280c3618a7_b.jpgThe Lion and The Rose / Livraria Lello D by Karen Metz, on Flickr

The ceilings of the Livraria Lello are equally impressive. A large stained glass skylight features prominently on the second story ceiling. Usually ceilings are ignored in Lego MOCs. I have tried to add some interest to my MOC with dual chandeliers, a stained glass skylight and decorated tiles.

40112102893_b9fd189385_b.jpgThe Lion and The Rose / Livraria Lello B by Karen Metz, on Flickr

There are numerous books for sale in my MOC. Some books displayed in the window are custom tiles from The Brick Show Shop. I have tried to create the characters from these novels in minifig form (luckily Lego has produced a couple of them already). The novels are “The Great Gatsby”, “The Wizard of Oz”, “Alice in Wonderland”, “Tom Sawyer”, “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea”, “The Old Man and the Sea”, “Gone With the Wind”, and “Treasure Island”.

40112231763_0ce3fb2832_b.jpgThe Lion and The Rose / Livraria Lello 10 by Karen Metz, on Flickr


I have slightly modified the exterior of the book store but have tried to capture its gothic and Art Nouveau style. The back and front facades on the first floor of my MOC are hinged to allow easy access to the interior. The back of the second floor is hinged as well. The roof is easily removed so the stairs can be seen from above.

40112067043_26effa53fe_z.jpgThe Lion and The Rose / Livraria Lello 9 by Karen Metz, on Flickr

The actual Livraria Lello.

40112126263_e379745804_b.jpgLivraria Lello Series by Karen Metz, on Flickr

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We've been there this summer... One very important suggestion - you should make a mile long line and add some heads to all of your photos :)

Just kidding, but you got it ))

This is really beautiful and recognizable! 

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This is fantastic! There's so much to look at. I love the tiles you used for the wood floors. I just realized you used arches for the red ground floor stairs. Clever!

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This is one of the most ornate and intricately detailed interiors ever and also true to its real life inspiration. Love your book choices as well. Wonderful MOC!

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19 hours ago, AllanSmith said:

Wow! Simply amazing. Well done in picking out the great elements of the real shop.

Thanks!  So many great elements to choose from.

10 hours ago, adwind said:

We've been there this summer... One very important suggestion - you should make a mile long line and add some heads to all of your photos :)

Just kidding, but you got it ))

This is really beautiful and recognizable! 

I have heard rumours about the long lines. Hopefully it won't be as busy this March when I am in Porto. I am really looking forward to seeing it in person.

6 hours ago, carebear said:

Jaw droppin!!!

You Made My Day!!!

Greetings!

Thanks, happy you like it!

 

6 hours ago, AntiZombie said:

Just amazing! I can't believe how many details are in there.
Well done! :)

Thanks. The real bookstore has so much ornate detail both inside and outside. So many printed tiles and stickers needed to try and capture even a fraction of it.

5 hours ago, KotZ said:

This is fantastic! There's so much to look at. I love the tiles you used for the wood floors. I just realized you used arches for the red ground floor stairs. Clever!

Thanks. The arches were my best solution to try and replicate the curved stairs (even if they are concave where they should be convex). Glad they came in the right colour.

5 hours ago, koalayummies said:

This is one of the most ornate and intricately detailed interiors ever and also true to its real life inspiration. Love your book choices as well. Wonderful MOC!

Thanks for the kind words. I really like the new style books, but the older ones add a pop of colour. The Brick Show Shop has a great pack of printed tiles that contains the 8 book covers.

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This is gorgeous!  Loads of great details, but the staircase, upper level balustrade and the ceiling/chandeliers are my favourites.

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11 hours ago, alvinofdiaspar said:

@kjm161Absolutely magnificent!

Thanks!

13 hours ago, Kristel said:

This is gorgeous!  Loads of great details, but the staircase, upper level balustrade and the ceiling/chandeliers are my favourites.

Thank you. The chandeliers were a bit of lucky accident. I ordered the new fence parts thinking I would use them on a section of stair railing being the same diameter as the old spoked gold fence part but when I got them found they were smaller.  They didn't work for the railing and I wanted to decorate the ceiling so used the parts for the chandeliers instead.

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On 2/14/2019 at 4:41 PM, peedeejay said:

Impressive rendition of the original!

Thanks! The original stairs are an engineering masterpiece that were challenging but fun to get a sense of in Lego. I can't tell you how many times they collapsed while trying to put them together.

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I've never seen anything like this! I love all the detail packed into such a small space, but the richness of the interior comes through so well it's almost like being there yourself. 

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What a beautiful build - you've really captured the feel of the real building!! The staircase is amazing and I love all the little decorative details - this is one of those builds I could look at all day!! (The classic books are a great touch too) 

Excellent work!!

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Beautiful, beautiful build. :wub: You've done a really good job recreating the original. The staircase is lovely, although you could get the convex look on the lowest course by using curved slopes with the studs facing out instead of in, unless it would mess up the rest of the design.

The whole interior is fantastic. Of course the lovely staircase gets the most attention, and the stained glass ceiling is nice. You have quite the collection of printed floor planks *oh2* , the chandeliers are neat, and of course the bookshelves and books are artfully done.

I've been wanting to build something (a library, hopefully - just a coincidence) using multiples of the printed stained glass rose piece along with the sticker piece. You beat me to it, and showed just how good they can look it a MOC!

Excellent work. :thumbup:

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28 minutes ago, Captain Dee said:

Beautiful, beautiful build. :wub: You've done a really good job recreating the original. The staircase is lovely, although you could get the convex look on the lowest course by using curved slopes with the studs facing out instead of in, unless it would mess up the rest of the design.

The whole interior is fantastic. Of course the lovely staircase gets the most attention, and the stained glass ceiling is nice. You have quite the collection of printed floor planks *oh2* , the chandeliers are neat, and of course the bookshelves and books are artfully done.

I've been wanting to build something (a library, hopefully - just a coincidence) using multiples of the printed stained glass rose piece along with the sticker piece. You beat me to it, and showed just how good they can look it a MOC!

Excellent work. :thumbup:

Thanks! I played with the idea of having the lower stairs be convex rather than concave but went with the arch design for the front so that I could have the convex back part of the stairs in reddish brown. I didn't figure out how to have both front and back convex and studs available to put the railings and side detail.

I really do like those printed floor planks in that colour since they make the interior slightly brighter than regular brown tiles and add a bit of detail. Good thing the Old Fishing Store had a lot of them so that the price on bricklink wasn't too expensive and lots of stores had them available in large quantities.  

Love to see your library in the future with the printed rose piece. 

4 hours ago, greg3 said:

What a beautiful build - you've really captured the feel of the real building!! The staircase is amazing and I love all the little decorative details - this is one of those builds I could look at all day!! (The classic books are a great touch too) 

Excellent work!!

Thanks! The classic books come in great colours, which show up well on the bookshelves.

17 hours ago, Reaper said:

This looks amazing, especially how you built the stairs!

 

14 hours ago, EVE said:

I've never seen anything like this! I love all the detail packed into such a small space, but the richness of the interior comes through so well it's almost like being there yourself. 

Thank you so much. I really like doing the interior of buildings.

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On 2/17/2019 at 5:27 PM, PaddyBricksplitter said:

Lavish.

What a great build :wub:

Well done.

 

On 2/20/2019 at 10:08 PM, rahziel said:

Amazing work, so many beautiful details, congratz!!
Porto!! :)

 

On 2/18/2019 at 8:20 AM, Man with a hat said:

Oh WOW!

What an amazing and mind blowing interior. Even including detailed ceilings. Very impressive.

Thanks for the comments! :)

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this is a very beautiful model i like how you use some classic pieces from the original castle series too.

 

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