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Ranking the Lego Modular Buildings: 1-11
thomaspp13
Member Posts: 29
Hey folks. I know this or a subtheme of the above has been discussed on many embedded threads before, but I thought it would be fun to have a dedicated thread for a ranking of the existing 11 modulars.
Owning all 11, for me/my personal/subjective ranking of these iconic buildings is as below (from most favorite to least favorite). My criteria is really based on visual external appeal more than anything else.
1. Café Corner
2. Grand Emporium
3. Green Grocer
4. Town Hall
5. Palace Cinema
6. Parisian Restaurant
7. Detective's Office
8. Pet Shop
9. Fire Brigade
10. Brick Bank
11. Market Street
I've also uploaded a youtube video discussing my thoughts on my collection of modular buildings and the above ranking here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLId4mKebuw
I'm curious to hear your ranking and thoughts. Be well!
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Comments
2. Cafe Corner
3. Grand Emporium
4. Detectives Office
5. Brick Bank
6. Town Hall
7. Palace Cinema
8. Green Grocer
9. Fire Brigade
10. Market Street
11. Pet Shop
The thought, precision and detail put into the Parisian Restaurant makes it my favorite.
(The Brick Bank is a close second, and the Green Grocer is a close third - in fact, the rest are so close, you could put them in any order and I would agree.)
The pits is definitely Market Street. For obvious reasons. A distant #11.
1. Parisian Restaurant
2. Grand Emporium
3. Town Hall
4. Fire Brigade
5. Palace Cinema
6. Pet Shop
7. Detective's Office
Don't have Cafe Corner and Market Street so can't judge those. Also I haven't built my Brick Bank and Green Grocer so will reserve judgement on those for later.
1: Parisian Restaurant
2: Detective's Office
3: Brick Bank
4: Palace Cinema
5: Pet Shop
Even though PS is at the bottom, I still really like it. In fact, I love 'em all! :-)
I really like them all, and it's hard to pick a favorite. Even my little red headed step children Cafe Corner and Market Street (bricklinked with alt colors). My ghetto cafe corner might be my favorite, because it was my first bricklinked project and was a labor of love. Something about having all those used pieces from multiple orders scattered all over my dining room table and then turning them into a beautiful, if somewhat odd colored, Cafe Corner made it a lot of fun.
LEGO Creator – Modular Buildings - Ranked (2007-2016)
10. #10182 - Cafe Corner
This has the least exciting exterior and interior detail. It was the first modular and LEGO was going for more of a model rather than coming with a fully interactive interior as the future models have come to show. It defiantly was a great start to the series and helped fans and the designers understand what was missing from this new concept which resulted in the extremely popular and successful Green Grocer.
9. #10232 - Palace Cinema
This was a huge disappointment; it was just like the Cafe Corner but with very limited details for the exterior and interior. The model could’ve had much more on the exterior and the interior.
8. #10211 - Grand Emporium
This is very nice model but its way too repetitive in its design which would make for a very underwhelming building experience and it has a rather bare interior. Both critiques and flaws with this set were fixed with the Town Hall (10224.)
7. #10224 - Town Hall
This is basically the opposite of the Green Grocer (10185.) It has tons of interior detail but it lacks in its exterior details for the first and second floor, this most likely because the subject is based on Town Halls, which are pretty simple in design. Since this lacks exterior detail it falls behind the Green Grocer (10185) simply because the first things you see of these buildings are the exteriors.
6. #10185 - Green Grocer
This probably has the least repetitive exterior than any modular released; you can barely see the basic bricks at the front. It was the start of the interior details however it really lacked in the other two floors given how much open space has been provided.
5. #10197 - Fire Brigade
The exterior of the 'Fire Brigade' is definitely one of the best of any modular building. It has lacking ground floor for obvious reasons and it's a mirrored building which makes it #4 on my list.
4. #10218 - Pet Shop
This is the most unique of any of the modular building as you have an option to split it into two, this also means it has very limited mirrored details. This is one of the most balanced ‘Modular Buildings’ of the bunch which has equal amounts of interior and exterior.
3. #10251 - Brick Bank
Without a doubt the best 'corner' building of the Modular Building of the entire line which brings yet again another format of layout. This doesn't really live up to the previous two Modulars due to its simple symmetrical pattern as well as having a less interesting interior.
2. #10246 - Detective's Office
This is a very different modular as it's very comical that would be found in a comic book or a cartoon. This also means the design is much simpler but it still holds up as the second best modular with several cool details.
1. #10243 - Parisian Restaurant
This is the most realistic and most detailed of any modular building; it's packed with details to the brim. It’s very limited in its repetitive design. It also has a fresh layout which makes it smaller but this allows more interior detail and the overall model is exquisite and outstanding, it's defiantly one of the best LEGO sets in recent history.
2. Fire Brigade
3. Parisian Restaurant
10. Cafe Corner
1. Palace Cinema
My List:
2. Detectives Office
3. Parisian Restaurant
4. Brick Bank
6. Fire Brigade
10. Cafe Corner
The Parisian Restaurant is third on my list of overall favorites, but it would be #1 if I were basing the list on exterior aesthetics alone. PR is the only modular imo that pull off being a stand alone display piece.
Not sure I should rank one to eleven as I've only built two, but of those I have built:-
1 Cafe Corner
2 Market Street
1)Detectives office
2)Townhall
3)Parisian Restaurant
4)Grand Emporium
5)Pet Shop
6)Palace Cinema
7)Brick Bank
Honestly 2-5 could have been in any order. I like all the modular buildings a lot and they are all in my top 20 favorite sets in my collection
2. Cafe Corner
4. Detectives Office
5. Grand Emporium
6. Pet Shop
9. Brick Bank
2. Green Grocer
3. Grand Emporium
4. Fire Brigade
5.Town Hall
6. Detectives Office
7. Pet Shop
8. Parisian Restaurant
9. Brick Bank
10. Market Street
11. Palace Cinema
You guys are hysterical! Thanks for chiming in with the rankings.
My further thoughts:
1. I am always a bit amazed how much attention and love Parisian restaurant gets. Yes, it a detailed set, but the green exterior is not to my liking frankly. It's a fine set, but nowhere near the top of my list. Thankfully we have 11 to choose from!
2. The good old controversial market street: Yes, it's one of the modulars despite being sold under the Factory line and being designed by a fan and not a professional lego designer and, yes, it's not the most beautiful, BUT it's certainly one of the 11 Modulars and if you want a full set of Modulars, you gotta have it! I still very much enjoy having it in my city.
3. I'm excited to see what may be coming our way in 2017 on the modular front. There isn't a lot out there in lego for me at the moment so while I wait for the new modular I am focusing on a skyscraper MOC.
Best!
(1) Detective's Office
(2) Parisian Restaurant
(3) Brick Bank
(4) Palace Cinema
(5) Town Hall
(6) Fire Brigade
(7) Grand Emporium
(8) Cafe Corner
(9) Pet Shop
(10) Green Grocer
(11) Market Street
I'm honestly surprised at how seemingly low Palace Cinema is for people. Going by an average of the above, it ranks pretty squarely 2nd-to-last above Market Street. But I honestly thought it was very well designed, and had great character.
To me, it feels like the lineup has been slowly improving over time, getting more and more detailed and realistic. Comparing Cafe Corner, Market Street, and the Green Grocer to more recent sets, it feels like they're not quite on par, and are made with a more basic selection of elements.
I always feel bad that Market Street gets a bad rap-- I didn't think it was all that poorly designed or anything. It's main shortcomings (for me) are that the "short" section is pretty flimsy, and it doesn't have a detailed interior. Apart from that, the detail level always felt similar to other modulars of the time.
Counting everyone that's voted for all the modulars in this thread (assuming that those who skipped Market Street would place it in last place), it seems like the results are:
(1) Parisian Restaurant (avg rank 3.667)
(2) Detective's Office (avg rank 3.889)
(3) Green Grocer (avg rank 4.000)
(4) Fire Brigade (avg rank 5.000)
(5) Cafe Corner (avg rank 5.556)
(6) Town Hall (avg rank 5.667)
(7) Grand Emporium (avg rank 6.222)
(8) Brick Bank (avg rank 6.444)
(9) Pet Shop (avg rank 6.889)
(10) Palace Cinema (avg rank 8.000)
(11) Market Street (avg rank 10.667)
So, a pretty close grouping for the top 1-3, and then a close race for 4-9. But 10th and 11th place seem a bit more securely locked in, barring some aberrant voting!
DaveE
One development of the Modular series is the humor and backstories. I look forward to discovering these while building them, they make me laugh. On display it is more about the exterior aesthetics.
Grand Emporium – guy trying on pants (previewing “Where’s my pants” guy)
Pet Shop - Cat chasing mouse out hole in back, painter with a swath of paint started on wall.
Parisian Restaurant – engagement story, full on kitchen, artist upstairs, well stocked dumpster.
Detective’s Office – the whole cookie caper concept.
Brick Bank – money laundering, no, literally.
A lobby and grand stair case were common, and a main floor and balcony theatre seating were as well. Squeezing 6 seats into the 2nd floor looks awkward. Also, I found no need for the showing of projection equipment and cameraman. You will find this in no theatre image I have ever seen. The projection booth was behind the back wall, and should have been "implied" in the design, rather than wasting space in it.
I think that the theatre should have had a 1st floor foyer with stairs at one end, a concession, and main floor seating. At the top of the 2nd floor there should have only been a balcony taking up about 1/2 of the space. On the far wall of auditorium should have been a 2 story procenium (arch surrounding the screen).
Granted that this all was too much to put into the size footprint that this building takes up. Which is why a projection area took up scarce space in the model, as would any restroom facilities.
Ironically in real theatres of the 1920s and 1930s... there were no concession booths. You just went there to see a movie.... which may explain the lack of enough restrooms in most old movie palace. They were built before the invention of the "big gulp" beverages.... ;-)
Concession stands were introduced in the 1940s.
.....but is considered by LEGO and Brickset to be a modular. Just wondering.
As far as I'm aware, LEGO doesn't and hasn't acknowledged any "official" list of modulars. The closest thing we have is Jamie mentioning that the DO was the "10th" modular in his designer video. That counts for something, but could just very well be his personal view, and not necessarily "canon".
In the end, it doesn't matter. People are free to define their own collections however they want to. I wasn't speaking to what was official or what wasn't, just posting an opinion on why myself (and some others) didn't list it in their lists.
One thing that cannot be debated, whether you include it in the series or not, is that it is an outlier in terms of design process, allowable budget, and what parts/colors were available to the designer.
2. Green Grocer
3. Parisian Restaurant
4. Palace Cinema
5. Cafe Corner
6. Brick Bank
7. Town Hall
8. Pet Shop
9. Fire Brigade
10. Grand Emporium
11. Market Street
Really surprised by the Palace Cinema getting such a low ranking up to now. It's one of my favourites for the shape and the style of the building.
Yes, sir. What video of Jaime are you referring to? Have a link - curious. Tks.
lights blue touch paper, runs away...
1. Parisian Restaurant
2. Brick Bank
3. Detectives Office
4. Green Grocer
5. Fire Brigade
6. Pet Shop
7. Town Hall
8. Grand Emporium
9. Palace Cinema
10. Cafe Corner
11. Market Street
I don't have the last two, but I have no real wish to get them, so they get the last two places.
For me, PC was just badly executed. It felt unfinished, rushed, not up to the usual high standards.
Palace Cinema
Pet shop
Tada!
Now that is quite some list, isn't it...
Next one on my wish-list is Parisian Restaurant.
1. Parisian Restaurant
Own but have not built yet:
9. Detectives Office
Do not/will not own:
11. Market Street
My list is as follows. I have ranked all of them according to my personal taste, whether I own them or not (yet).
1. Detective's Office
2. Parisian Restaurant
3. Brick Bank
4. Palace Cinema
5. Green Grocer
6. Town Hall
7. Fire Brigade
8. Grand Emporium
9. Cafe Corner
10. Market Street
11. Pet Shop
Cool! Is the Simpsons House larger than your typical baseplate? I'm thinking about the QuickieMart.... but not sure how it will fit in modular city.
Since everyone else is doing it, here's my ranking. I've built them all, but sold my Cafe Corner, Market Street and Green Grocer once their values became too good not to sell.
1) Parisian Restaurant
2) Detective Office
3) Brick Bank
4) Green Grocer
5) Town Hall
6) Palace Cinema
7) Pet Shop
8) Fire Brigade
9) Grand Emporium
10) Cafe Corner
11) Market Street