The Jumeirah Essex House in New York City was recently rebuilt. The reconstruction was in Lego bricks, however, thanks to a project by Legoland California, a theme park devoted to the cult-like children's toy. Lego Master Designer Eric Hunter spent two months, 200 hours and 62,100 Lego bricks to design and build an eight-foot-high replica of the hotel. Once complete, the mini-hotel was placed in the Essex House lobby.

The nearly 200-pound creation can be taken apart in four sections and placed in a specially designed crate for transportation. The model includes more than 50 types of Lego bricks in nine colors. The completed model features 1,885 windows and three custom-built spotlights on top of the tower to illuminate the hotel's iconic red-letter sign.
Essex House GM Scott
Dawson (left) with Lego
designer Hunter.