Building Cabot Tower brick by (Lego) brick: N.L. enthusiast unveils latest creation

Stephen Churchill has built a lot of cool things using Lego, with his latest creation capturing the most iconic building in St. John's.

Churchill, who lives in Paradise, completed a replica of Cabot Towersix months agobut unveiled his creation earlier this week, posting pictures on social media in front of the real thing. He said the challenge of recreating the iconic building was what drew him to do it.

"Cabot Tower has the advantage for somebody who wants to challenge themselves because it's got some parts that are not square," Churchill told The St. John's Morning Showon Wednesday. "When you're dealing with square bricks, it can of course be a challenge."

Churchill said some challenge came in scaling the building, which he accomplished by using photos of the building and mini figures of soldiers. He also had to tear part of the project down in trying to recreate the Christmas star on the side of the building, as the windows on that side of the building are laid out differently from other sides.

Churchill said the push for realism in his creations in part of what drives him and his work. He joked his work was so accurate, people wanted to take pictures of his creation while he was taking pictures next to the real building on Signal Hill.

"I decided, 'Yeah, let's take it up and compare it to the real thing and see how it stands up. And I think it stands up pretty well," he said.

When asked what other St. John's structures he is eyeing for his next project, Churchill said he aims to recreate the Basilica cathedral in downtown St. John's.

"That's going to be a monster, and I'm not sure if I'm ever going to really get thatdone," he said. "That's a maybe someday sort of thing. I've got a small scale maybe of The Rooms that I've talked about, but mostly my thing is Star Wars stuff. I'm a nerd at heart."

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