Jumeirah unveils ‘modern and playful’ version of NY hotel

Hospitality group Jumeirah, a member of Dubai Holding, yesterday unveiled in New York an “extreme makeover” of one of its properties – a miniature version of Jumeirah Essex House in New York City.

 

The world’s largest free-standing hotel model ever constructed out of Lego bricks was commissioned in honour of the hotel’s recent 75 year anniversary and in celebration of the recent completion of its $90 million (Dh330.3m) refurbishment, Jumeirah said in a statement. 

 

The Jumeirah Essex House Lego model that will be placed in the redesigned lobby of the hotel captures the original Art Deco style and essence of the 1931 architectural masterpiece.

 

“We invited Legoland’s master model builder Eric Hunter to be our ‘artists-in-residence’,” said Scott Dawson, General Manager of Jumeirah Essex House.

 

The hotel earlier this year launched an artists-in-residence programme in which commissioned artists design and create artwork based on their residency at the hotel.

 

“The result of Eric’s work is a modern and playful version of our beloved building, very close to the original design and absolutely true to scale,” said Dawson.

 

Facts and figures

- The overall dimension of the “to scale” model is approximately 1m x 1m and 2.5m tall

- More than 50 types of Lego blocks, including plates and tiles were used in the dummy

- Nine colours were used in the completed model, closely resembling the actual shades of the landmark building’s exterior and façade

- A total of 62,160 Lego bricks were used in the construction of the impressive replica

- It took more than 212 hours for Hunter to design and construct the replica

- The completed model features 1,885 windows of varying sizes

- The replica contains two custom-built spotlights on top of the tower that illuminate the Jumeirah Essex House’s historic red-letter sign