MOC: Georgian town houses

[Ralph_S]

About two years ago I built my first cafe corner compatible building, a traditional English curry house. Since then I've been gradually adding more British buildings to my collection. Last week I built two new ones. They are Georgian twon houses inspired by buildings in London.

Because these houses tend to be built in rows side-by-side I felt I ought to build at least two. I decided to make each 24 studs wide rather than 16 (too narrow) or 32 (way too many parts required), so that together they are 48 and still meet the modular building standard. Because two of the same buildings are dull, I decided to have one look as though it is under renovation -hence the scaffolding. The other building has a detailed interior with a living room, kitchen, bathroom, an office and two bedrooms.

Because the floors are modular too, I can easily remove one and make the building look more suitable for a village than a city.

Both of these, my existing cafe corner compatible MOCs and some other bits and bobs that I still need to build will ultimately make up a London street scene, but for now that's still a long way off.

Cheers,

Ralph

[Milan]

Hi,

Beautiful house, one of the best, as always...

It is simple, but packed with great details. I especially like rain pipes, construction works, lamps at the door...

And of course, interior!

It looks sooo nice and tidy, with that 2 colored floor and tidy furniture!

Roof is also very nice!

Bravo!

[Legostein]

Hello!

A really lovely set of houses! I'd gladly rent a flat in there! Also a great fan of those pieces, I like the use of fences whereever I see them! And the simple trick you attached the flowers is very efficient. The construction site details for the one house being renovated are nice to look at, too! How many of your great houses do you have yet? Can you build a small city yet? It would be a pleasure to see!

Cheers,

~ Christopher

[BlueBard]

Magnificent work, RalphS, as usual! I really like your facades, simple and not highly detailed but really smart, and of course your interiors and the construction area are great too Your work is allways an inspiration

Edited October 25, 2009 by BlueBard

[Captain Zuloo]

Brilliant work! Not hugely detailed exterior, yet very reslistic. The scaffolding idea is supurb.

I love the portaloo.

Only thing missing is a fence dividing the two backyards. Fantastic work though. Next from you I'm expecting a modular dock for those awesome boats. Keep up the fantastic work Ralph.

[Rick]

That's amazing how managed to cram all those fully-furnished rooms into such a small space. The overall design is also very nice and I like the extension on the populated house and the idea of putting scaffolding on the neighbor's house. The version with one floor less looks better/friendlier from the outside if you ask me, but that's the difference between the city and the country-side I guess.

[Zorbas]

Very beautiful creation Ralph!

The colors do blend well and it doesn't look too dull. The small green "drops" here and there break the greyness and blend really well with the rest of the colors.

I just love the construction scenery!

Kudos about the protection net!

Safety on!

[catbricks]

Wow, these are lovely. I'm impressed by how much you fit into that space. When I tried to do the Cafe Corner interior, I spent a bunch of time swearing about how it was too small to fit anything in. You've inspired me to try again. :)

[WhiteFang]

Ralph_S, this is an amazing piece of work, with lots of details in it. I must admit that the scaffolding idea on the other house is great. Lovely piece of work. Thanks for sharing it with us.

This has been featured in Classic-Town.net.

[Ralph_S]

Hi,

Beautiful house, one of the best, as always...

It is simple, but packed with great details. I especially like rain pipes, construction works, lamps at the door...

And of course, interior!

It looks sooo nice and tidy, with that 2 colored floor and tidy furniture!

Roof is also very nice!

Bravo!

Thank you. The style of the buildings that inspired these tends to be fairly straight and simple, with few decorative details other than the area around the front door. I wasn't sure whether it would look attractive when built in LEGO, but judging from your reaction it worked.

Hello!

A really lovely set of houses! I'd gladly rent a flat in there! Also a great fan of those pieces, I like the use of fences whereever I see them! And the simple trick you attached the flowers is very efficient. The construction site details for the one house being renovated are nice to look at, too! How many of your great houses do you have yet? Can you build a small city yet? It would be a pleasure to see!

Cheers,

~ Christopher

Thanks. I've got two 32 wide buildings, two 16 wide ones and now these two. I've also got a small park. Since I built the other biuldings in the Uk and moved to The Netherlands since, they're still stuck in a box somewhere. There are a few more things that I want to build before putting all of it together and taking photographs. I want to build a road to go in front of all of it and a railway viaduct to go behind it.

Without the fencework or the flowers the buildings would have looked really stern.

Magnificent work, RalphS, as usual! I really like your facades, simple and not highly detailed but really smart, and of course your interiors and the construction area are great too Your work is allways an inspiration

Thank you. I am a big fan of LEGO's own modular buildings, but for a British look i think they're often a bit too elaborately detailed. I like to keep things abit simpler.

Brilliant work! Not hugely detailed exterior, yet very reslistic. The scaffolding idea is supurb.

Only thing missing is a fence dividing the two backyards. Fantastic work though. Next from you I'm expecting a modular dock for those awesome boats. Keep up the fantastic work Ralph.

Indeed. I didn't think of adding a fence, but it's obviously quite easily done. The scaffolding looks a bit too beefy perhaps, but i enjoyed builing it probably at least as much as building the interior on the other house. I have completely run out of grey 1x1 round bricks though!

That's amazing how managed to cram all those fully-furnished rooms into such a small space. The overall design is also very nice and I like the extension on the populated house and the idea of putting scaffolding on the neighbor's house. The version with one floor less looks better/friendlier from the outside if you ask me, but that's the difference between the city and the country-side I guess.

I agree that the smaller version looks much more friendly. The interior was a bit tricky and it does look a wee bit cramped here and there. These building are just about large enough to do the interiors some justice. Still, I wish I'd found enough space for a downstairs toilet!

Very beautiful creation Ralph!

The colors do blend well and it doesn't look too dull. The small green "drops" here and there break the greyness and blend really well with the rest of the colors.

I just love the construction scenery!

Kudos about the protection net!

Safety on!

Thank you. The nets are really a bit course-grained, but I too liked the look. I felt I needed to add a few splashes of colour here and there on the outside to break up the greyness. I'm glad you appreciate them.

Edit: while I was writing my posts, two more posts were added!

Wow, these are lovely. I'm impressed by how much you fit into that space. When I tried to do the Cafe Corner interior, I spent a bunch of time swearing about how it was too small to fit anything in. You've inspired me to try again. :)

Thank. I too tried fitting an interior in cafe corner. I couldn't quite make it work. A cafe/bar type thing downstairs was fine, but hotel rooms upstairs were a nightmare. I gave up.

Ralph_S, this is an amazing piece of work, with lots of details in it. I must admit that the scaffolding idea on the other house is great. Lovely piece of work. Thanks for sharing it with us.

This has been featured in Classic-Town.net.

Thank you for the blog. I am glad you like it.

Thanks for all the comments. They are much appreciated.

Cheers,

Ralph

Edited October 25, 2009 by Ralph_S

[Princess Storm]

Wow, this is so realistic, you've really captured the buildings in London here! The details are amazing, things like the portaloo, conservatory on the back of the other house, the skip, wheelbarrow, etc

[chriz]

Awsome!

[MetroiD]

This is the perfect example of how to build an attractive modular building without making it look gaudy. That simple fence + flower combination is an absolute winner and I feel it totally changes the way the houses' exterior looks. Just another example of how well you know exactly what to put where. The interior is top-notch, but then again we all know how well you manage to cram little features where there's hardly any free space available.

Like the rest of the guys, I'd love to see a town scene featuring your buildings and your awesome vehicles... to be honest, I'd also love to see more modular buildings from you - they're really inspiring!

[Commodore Hornbricker]

That's a great MOC. I love the color scheme. Very clean. The windows are terrific. The construction netting (I assume that's what that is) bring a sense of life and action to the building. It reminds me very much of Wallace and Gromit.

[Ezechielle]

I really like the scaffolding, it adds a great detail to the houses, the only problem is that it seems too "hard", I mean, I have the feeling that the scaffolding is made of concrete.

[harrysnapperorgans]

Great MOC's. I find Cafe Corner and the like slightly over the top on detail, but this is just perfect, really, really nice. I might steal some interior ideas from you for my current WIP.

<edit, for atrocious spelling mistakes>

Edited October 27, 2009 by harrysnapperorgans

[Ralph_S]

Wow, this is so realistic, you've really captured the buildings in London here! The details are amazing, things like the portaloo, conservatory on the back of the other house, the skip, wheelbarrow, etc

Thank you. Without all that little clutter, they did look terribly stark and grey plus I had a lot of fun building it.

Awsome!

Thank you. Much appreciated.

This is the perfect example of how to build an attractive modular building without making it look gaudy. That simple fence + flower combination is an absolute winner and I feel it totally changes the way the houses' exterior looks. Just another example of how well you know exactly what to put where. The interior is top-notch, but then again we all know how well you manage to cram little features where there's hardly any free space available.

Like the rest of the guys, I'd love to see a town scene featuring your buildings and your awesome vehicles... to be honest, I'd also love to see more modular buildings from you - they're really inspiring!

Thanks. Earlier modular buildings I made were a bit more colourful and it was easier to make them look attractive. The details on this took a bit of trial and error. I too look forward to seeing all of my buildings together with some sort of street scene, but it'll take a while. I've got a few more other things I'm working on at the moment.

That's a great MOC. I love the color scheme. Very clean. The windows are terrific. The construction netting (I assume that's what that is) bring a sense of life and action to the building. It reminds me very much of Wallace and Gromit.

The netting indeed is supposed to be construction netting. It's a bit course-grained, but hopefully gives the right impression.

I really like the scaffolding, it adds a great detail to the houses, the only problem is that it seems too "hard", I mean, I have the feeling that the scaffolding is made of concrete.

The scaffolding would probably look better if the poles were thinner. I tried something with rods and clips, but couldn't make it work (too complicated, too flimsy, not enough parts). Anyway, the British tend to take their health and safety seriously, so having scaffolding that looks as though it can weather an earthquake probably scores points somewhere [wink]

Great MOC's. I find Cafe Corner and the like slightly over the top on detail, but this is just perfect, really, really nice. I might steal some interior ideas from you for my current WIP.

<edit, for atrocious spelling mistakes>

I do like Cafe corner and the other modular buildings, but their detail is a bit overly elaborate for them to pass as British buildings. I'm glad you like the somewhat barer look of my buildings. Feel free to copy any interior detail you like.

Cheers,

Ralph

[ACCURATEin]

Excellent work once again! Your MOCs never fail to impress. I too would love to see all of them in one gigantic street scene.

[wooootles]

Wow, that is just awesome!

I think I like your idea of a 24-wide house and I just might steal it! :skull: I do think 16-wide is just a bit too narrow (and 32 too big), yours is just nice enough that the interior looks like an actual scale house (and the furnishings and tiles help a lot too!)

[streifen]

Great MOC u have there.

Re: the "concrete-like" scaffolding, it is actually tubular scaffolding. made of metal.

the green sofas are

[Rufus]

Great work! They'd look right at home in one of the many squares in Bloomsbury. Sadly, most of the real ones are offices or hotels now.

[Ralph_S]

Excellent work once again! Your MOCs never fail to impress. I too would love to see all of them in one gigantic street scene.

Thank you. I hope to continue with these in the next few months and once I've got a more-or-less completed scene, I'm sure to post it on Eurobricks as well.

Wow, that is just awesome!

I think I like your idea of a 24-wide house and I just might steal it! :skull: I do think 16-wide is just a bit too narrow (and 32 too big), yours is just nice enough that the interior looks like an actual scale house (and the furnishings and tiles help a lot too!)

The idea came to me when I realised that I had to build at least two houses since these tend to come in rows. I didn't imagine having enough parts (or perhaps wanting to use the large number of parts) required to build two 32-wide buildings. 16 Studs seems too narrow. I've done it before, but it just doesn't go well with this type of building. 24 Seemed like a suitable compromise.

Great MOC u have there.

Re: the "concrete-like" scaffolding, it is actually tubular scaffolding. made of metal.

the green sofas are

No offence to the British, but the colour of the sofas I used to have in my own furnished apartment back in the UK and the interior colours you see in British TV shows tend to make my eyes water. I could have made them in sand blue -which would probably have looked somewhat decent- but bright green seemed more fitting somehow.

I'm sure Ezechielle realises that the scaffolding is supposed to be metal, but the tubes are a bit thick, really.

Great work! They'd look right at home in one of the many squares in Bloomsbury. Sadly, most of the real ones are offices or hotels now.

That's a great compliment. On trips to London I'd regularly spend a few hours in the British Museum and the area around it was a source of inspiration for these buildings. I did consider making one of these two a solicitor's office, but it seemed a bit dull.

Thanks for all the comments.

Cheers,

Ralph

[Dennimator]

Wow. Just wow.

I´ve never seen anyone build a building that plain and make it look great at the same time. 'Looking great' usually means alot of tiny details, etc. This is great in another way... Well, I can´t really describe it.

I also like the interior design, you´ve got some very nice ideas there! Especially that green container, could we get a close-up pic of it? EDIT: Oh, and of the wheelbarrow too?

Edited November 3, 2009 by Dennimator

[lightningtiger]

'ere gov, she don't look half grand.

Eastenders come to Lego.

A true and beautiful MOC - the construction work going on, great - the interior, can you show us any more interior shots - very good ! Really like the rubbish skip bin - great again.

Gives me ideas for my Green Grocer upper levels that are unfurnished.

[Ralph_S]

Wow. Just wow.

I´ve never seen anyone build a building that plain and make it look great at the same time. 'Looking great' usually means alot of tiny details, etc. This is great in another way... Well, I can´t really describe it.

I also like the interior design, you´ve got some very nice ideas there! Especially that green container, could we get a close-up pic of it? EDIT: Oh, and of the wheelbarrow too?

Thanks. I think I catch your drift. I suppose that the fewer details there are, the more the ones that you do add have to be just right. I fiddled with it a long time, adding bits until I liked it. I have made some pictures that show both the wheelbarrow and the skip a bit better, but let me know if you want some more. I'm away from home at the moment and will be until mid next week, but I can easily take some pictures when I get back.

'ere gov, she don't look half grand.

Eastenders come to Lego.

A true and beautiful MOC - the construction work going on, great - the interior, can you show us any more interior shots - very good ! Really like the rubbish skip bin - great again.

Gives me ideas for my Green Grocer upper levels that are unfurnished.

Thanks. It's nice to know my MOCs give you some ideas. I really like building interiors and I did make a few more pictures of the interior of this building, including these two showing the upstairs bedroom and bathroom and a child's bedroom and a small office a floor above that.

A few more, including some of some other buildings are on flickr)

Cheers,

Ralph