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SAFE PLACES
(VEILIGWONEN.NL) likes the Canal House of Leo Dorst in Amsterdam,
Holland. Leo has built a LEGO-model of his house.
Other than pick-pocketing and bike theft, Amsterdam has very low crime
rates and is a safe city. Sure, you do have to lock your bike and it
is possible to buy drugs or encounter prostitution. As a matter of fact
prostitutes do receive customers on the lower floors of Leo's house,
while Leo is designing his own LEGO-bike.
But for the most part, Amsterdam has evolved into a safe, livable city.
Canal house
in Amsterdam
The
house
Leo and his partner live in a canal house on the Singel canal in Amsterdam.
On his website Leo is explaining his house, the LEGO-model and the cats
- The gable (facade) says 1744, but that is a recent addition. Details
in construction suggest it is about 450 years old. The LEGO-model was
built in 1995, and includes realistic Amsterdam details like the dog-poo
on the street (a great use for the new brown LEGO-colors!), our cats
Charlie and Gorby, and two chairs on the lower floors where the prostitutes
receive customers. We own the top 3 floors only, and the rightmost door
is the one to take if you want to visit us, rather than them.
Two chairs/windows
of prostitutes
on
the lower floors
Leo
explains: in this Legoland-style model, I used various parts to break
up the top of the gable and give it the sculpted look. The four studs
on left and right are in reality the text: ANNO 1744. The green pattern
at the top is a sculpted gablestone of a soldier shooting off a canon,
with the text "'T DUIJTS CANNON" (The German Gun); we have
not yet discovered the reason for this, but we will dive into the Amsterdam
city archives to find out.
Stain glass
windows
on the upper floors
According to Leo, people are especially impressed by the stained glass
windows, which he made from car headlights, and by the bannisters on
the steps. Both help to make the model very convincing, and have converted
more than one layperson to the LEGO-religion!
LINK
& 
http://carol.wins.uva.nl/~leo/lego/
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