Take a Break: 'Toying' with Albany History
Local man makes lego model with local flair
Some people love Albany's old brownstones just the way they are. But can you imagine what they looked like back in the day? When their colors were crisp and their bricks unbattered?
The very idea captured the imagination of at least one man who used that imagination as the building blocks for a replica of homes on Elm Street in their heyday.
And it's constructed completely of Lego bricks.
The man behind it?
Former GE researcher, Bill Leue.
"Some of my friends and family have come in and looked at that and shaken their heads".
His Lego model of the row houses on Elm was an exercise in patience, precision and determination.
"I had to rebuild each one of these about 15 times to get it right," he says. "The stoop took a while to figure out."
He paid particularly close attention to detail, like the entrances to basement apartments, the window trim and trimmings, even the railings on the stoops were tedious. No Lego banister looked like the ones on Elm Street so he had to get creative and used little Lego goblets.
"There's about 200 parts in each of those stoops."
Bill's parents actually used to own one of those brownstones and he owned another, so he's got some personal history that also compelled him to try his hand at the model.
His next project will not be more real estate but is still steeped in local history.
"I'm actually thinking about trying to do the Henry Hudson ship, the Halfmoon."
