MOC: Police Station – Level 1

To navigate to other articles in this series:

• Level 1 – The Garage (you are currently on this page)
• Level 2 – The Cell Block
• Level 3 – Reception
• Level 4 – Offices
• Level 5 – CSI Lab
• Level 6 – Rooftop

I have been talking about this MOC for years. I have briefly mentioned it in many a post. Various versions of it have even appeared as the backdrop to my LEGO® photos. The time has come to finally start revealing my creation. My LEGO® city finally has a police station! It is also my first high rise. So, over the next little while, I will be sharing a detailed look at one floor each week.

Level 1 is probably the simplest level of my police station, yet oddly enough, it is the floor that took the longest to design. There were many factors to consider when initially planning the layout. I knew the baseplate had to incorporate a train tunnel, and the tunnel had to line up with the previous two sections I had built for the beginnings of my shopping promenade MOC (click here to read more about that). Additionally, I envisioned a sewer play feature early on that had to join one of the upper levels of the building to the train tunnel. I also wanted the lower levels to have a colder, industrial look, reminiscent of Gotham City from the 1989 Tim Burton Batman film. The upper levels would be more modern looking, as if built later on top of what was already there. I have lost count of how many times I started to build this level, only to scrap it later. However, once I had a layout and a general look that I liked, subsequent levels came about a little more quickly.

The first floor of my police station is the garage level. A side walk extends around the corner to a residential area, as well as a lower level extension of the shopping promenade. I started to plan this project two years ago when I bought my first police station set (60047 – click here for the review). That police station came with a clear blue, garage style door that I quite liked. It made its way into this custom project. The only exterior entrance or exit on this floor is the main garage door. Currently, it opens up across the street from the Ghostbusters Firehouse in my city layout. The Ghostbusters set also gave the inspiration for the “painted” yellow bricks on each side of the door. It’s a little authentic touch to make the pillars more visible to drivers.

The first two floors of this police station are intentionally very grey, with many beams and support columns. Like I mentioned before, I wanted it to look like the Tim Burton Batman films’ Gotham City. So, I even modified the overpass that I had already built to have giant statues as lamp posts. There are large vents built into one of the support columns as well. I remember steam venting all over the place in the 1989 movie, so I took my inspiration from there.

Since this level of the police station is meant to be old, the elevator that can be used to access the upper levels does not reach here. The garage is accessible only by the main door at street level, or stairs that lead to the upper levels. In the image below, you can also see a slide-like space in the far wall, adjacent to the overpass. This is the sewer play feature that I mentioned before. I will reveal its exact purpose when we get to the post on Level 2.

This building was designed very much in conjunction with the other buildings around it. They are, after all, all on the same baseplate. Next door, is my customized Park Street Townhouse. I liked the idea of the fire escape in that set. But, I didn’t have enough room for each building to have its own escape. So, I incorporated a small alley behind the police station, in between the two buildings. A series of ladders and platforms can be used to reach the street level from any floor of either building. Each building has windows adjacent to the fire escape. I created a wino character at the LEGO® Store Minifigure station, and shoved him into the alley. I like characters in my city that I can imagine stories around. This guy is a little down on his luck, but maybe his tale will make its way into a future Minifigure Monday post. He was also inspired by the opening alley scene of the 1989 Batman movie… though my version is not a mugger.

So concludes the tour of the first floor of my custom LEGO® police station. Be sure to check back for a look at level 2 next week! As always, feel free to leave constructive comments below.

Until next time,

-Tom