Just revealed, the 2025 LEGO® Icons Modular Buildings Collection set is 10350 Tudor Corner! Our review is coming tomorrow, but first we have a rather special introduction with exclusive photos.
At Fan Media Days in Denmark in September 2024, I joined Andrew Becraft from The Brothers Brick to have the lead designer François Zapf (above right) and graphic designer Ashwin Visser (above left) talk us through the new Modular's features and development.
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10350 Tudor Corner
- Release date: LEGO® Insiders from 1 January 2025 and available for all from 4 January
- Pieces: 3,266
- US$ 229.99 on LEGO.com US
- CA$ 299.99 on LEGO.com Canada
- GB£ 199.99 on LEGO.com UK
- AU$ 349.99 on LEGO.com Australia
- NZ$ 399.99 on LEGO.com New Zealand
- DE€ 229,99 on LEGO.com Deutschland
- NL€ 229,99 on LEGO.com Nederland
- FR€ 229,99 on LEGO.com France
- PLN 999.99 on LEGO.com Polska
- NOK 2799,90 on LEGO.com Norge
- DKK 1799.95 on LEGO.com Danmark
About the designers
François Zapf
This is the second model I've designed that will be released. The first one will be the gift with purchase for Black Friday.
Ashwin Visser
Introduction to the model and its decorations
"We have an inn with a small restaurant inside and on the ground floor there is also a haberdashery.
©2025 The LEGO Group |
"We have a haberdashery store owner, a food critic that slightly resembles the one that is actually used in the LEGO® City products, a character that is very obsessed with cats and other animals, the inn owner, the chef, the clockmaker, and the chimney sweep up on the top floor.
"Several new prints are actually making their introduction and are exclusive to this set. We have a beautiful haberdashery logo, we have the menus, and the special menu for the inn that resembles chalk board writings.
"We named the inn The Old Guarded Inn, which is a reference for LEGO® fans to the old medieval set, and a beautiful new clock face that is actually printed for the first time on the 3x3 round tile. And there is another print on the top floor.
"From very early on, the team were amazed by the techniques, especially the black-and-white chequered techniques that Francois did. We were all like, wow, when he first showed it. We have not seen this before in any Modular Buildings, or actually any other LEGO® sets for that matter. So it's super fresh that it's in here. For us it's very recognisable in Europe, with these old city centres in Germany, Denmark, even Great Britain."
Tour of the model
François Zapf:
"This is called Tudor Corner; referencing the specific British architecture style, and it this time, it's an old-timey corner. We wanted to to give this cozy vibe after the the Natural History Museum, because the museum was massive, and we wanted to break a little bit with that and have a different atmosphere."On the ground floor, you have the restaurant with a counter here at a nice angle, serving bacon and egg.
"Here under the stairs you also have the bathroom, the mandatory toilets... but this time, you can remove a chunk of the stairs, so you can have a look at it.
"You may noticed on the menu that there's fish, because at first it was designed as a fish and chips restaurant. We moved away from that idea, and instead we integrated this to the storyline. "Oh no, what if the fish was actually rotten?" Because we added kittens, it's still funny, because you can put the kitten next to it.
"At the back, you have the kitchen with the chef, and over here you have the haberdashery.
"Haberdashery means two different things. If you're from the US, it is definitely a hat shop, but in Great Britain, haberdashery refers to sewing; things like threads and so on. So that's why we combined the two concepts into one.
"Here in the sidewalk there's a coat of arms, because the inn is called The Old Guarded Inn, and we found it really funny to suggest that this is the same place as the medieval guarded inn, but a few centuries later! It adds some history to that corner.
"The woman on the sidewalk... she is passing by... she can be pretty much anything, we don't talk too much about her background. I think she's connecting all the stories. She's holding an umbrella and has a hat; maybe she bought them from the haberdashery? Maybe she's a food critic in disguise? She went out to eat some fish, and now she's disappointed. Maybe she's just going to the clockmaker to have her watch repaired, maybe she is visiting a friend? Or maybe she's just going to meet the chimney sweep, to dance on the rooftops!
"Next floor up, here you can find the clockmaker's workshop. You have a lot of grandfather clocks, small cuckoo clocks, tiny alarm clocks, carriage clocks and so on.
"It's fun because, you know with Modulars, sometimes they are pretty empty inside? Here, with all these clock designs, you can actually grab them and put them anywhere you want, so you have some nice little furniture for your MOCs or whatever you want to build.
"That door [above, bottom right] is a closet, with a surprise:
"This a workshop, you know, you have to keep it clean.
"Top floor, here you can find this tiny studio where a lady is living. So you have a little bedsit with an insect collection and furniture and a sink. And cats, it's normal to like cats.
"I started with the roof design because it's the most challenging part of the building, with crazy techniques and angles. The wall is at least two modules thick.
"Tudor architecture is well known for their cross gable roofs, and steep roofs. So that was the first thing we were trying to achieve. To summarise? It's a lot of trial and error, because there were so many collision issues, especially when you have those weird overlaps and things like that, but we made it.
"Also to build it strong enough, because that was also a challenge. You can press really hard and it won't break. That was a design challenge because with the roof being so steep, inside you need to have structural support for everything, especially when you're pressing on it real hard.
"We had already, at The LEGO Group, designed a lot of half-timber walls for medieval buildings, and we wanted to add a novel technique with angled wooden beams. It was a challenge to design, but I can assure you, when you're building this, it's super satisfying. That's partly so it looks like it's difficult, but it's super satisfying to build."
Our thanks to François Zapf, Ashwin Visser, Andrew Becraft and the AFOLET team. Come back tomorrow for our official review of this gorgeous 2025 set!
View the LEGO Tudor Corner on LEGO.com
READ MORE: Review: LEGO Leonardo Da Vinci's Flying Machine
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A really nice looking set inside and out by the looks of it. Love the colour combinations. Feels pretty authentically British style!
ReplyDeleteThe closest I think (apart from the original Guarded Inn and other Castle "ale caskets") that Lego has got to having a real pub/bar. I'm surprised you didn't ask why they hadn't included some more beverage types or cups haha.
There is always part 68495pb01 if you want to MOC it...
DeletePirate-related sets have also had their share of bar/pub type builds over the years, such as the back room of the inn in https://brickset.com/sets/21322-1/Pirates-of-Barracuda-Bay or the tavern from https://brickset.com/sets/4193-1/The-London-Escape. I suspect historic themes get some leeway with this kind of thing since taverns often did tend to be multi-purpose establishments that might offer food and lodgings in addition to alcohol — plus, there's no obligation to specify the contents of the wooden barrels (which in the days before municipal plumbing were just as likely to be used for fresh water as for alcoholic beverages).
DeleteIs that a sand green baseplate???
ReplyDeleteI think bright green (so not new).
DeleteNo, it looks like bright green
DeleteThe fact that the Tudor timber is only on the top floor with brick underneath it means it’s definitely mock Tudor, an equally British phenomenon, but a 20th century one.
ReplyDeleteNot solely British either, Mock Tudor/Tudor Revival can be found in other countries too, especially for buildings or communities trying to evoke a British feel (which should help this modular to fit into the multicultural blend of architectural styles present in the modular street).
Delete