62,000 Lego bricks over 525 hours: A bellman's unique love letter to his hotel

When Victoria hotel bellman Glenn Waddingham was out of work during the COVID-19 pandemic, he decided to create a massive and detailed Lego model to the showhow much heloves his work and workplace.

After nearly three decades of service, hefound himself with a lot of time on his hands early in the pandemic when travel restrictionsemptied hotels across the world in 2020. SoWaddingham recreated the downtown Chateau Victoria Hotel with more than 62,000 Lego bricks and figurines including managers, kids with ice cream cones and a seagull on the roof

It took him a total of525 hours, working on it even as the hotel returned to normal.When he completed the project last month,the hotel's general manageragreed to display it in a glass case inthe lobby where it's been since June 8.

He says he initially thought the project was tooambitious: "I can't build the hotel it's a big building," he said. "Then one day I thought, 'why not?' "

Waddingham spent eight hours a day recreating hotel scenes including managers talking to staff,guests sunbathingon balconiesand a mom pushinga luggage cart with her young daughter sitting on it.

But his favourite pieceis a bent stop sign in front of the hotel, something his colleagues have often joked about.

"Our real stop sign gets run over every week or every two weeks," he said.

Surprise to colleagues and guests

Marketing manager Chantelle Dean says many hotel employees didn't know aboutWaddingham's Lego project until he brought it to the hotel.

"It was quite a surprise for us to see it all in the end and discover it in its final stages," she said.

Dean says guests really enjoy exploring the hotel in an intimate way by looking at the scenesrecreated in Waddingham's work and so does her 10-year-old daughter.

"She was quite impressed and perhaps inspired to create something similar on her own," she said.

Waddingham says he loves not telling guestshe's the creator of the Lego modeland listening to what they say about it.

"It's fun just hearing people discover all of it by themselves."

WATCH| Glenn Waddingham surprises guests and coworkers with a Lego modelof Chateau Victoria Hotel:

Victoria bellman recreates hotel with Lego bricks and figurines

2 years ago

Duration 2:14

Glenn Waddingham spent over 500 hours building a replica of Chateau Victoria.