Priest builds replica of Notre Dame's Golden Dome-topped main building out of Legos

Kathy Borlik
·4 min read
The Rev. Bob Simon recently finished building a replica of the University of Notre Dame's Administration Building out of 300,000 Lego blocks. It is on display on campus in McKenna Hall.
The Rev. Bob Simon recently finished building a replica of the University of Notre Dame's Administration Building out of 300,000 Lego blocks. It is on display on campus in McKenna Hall.

The Rev. Bob Simon said he knew he wanted to be a priest by the time he turned 5 years old. Nothing else.

Well, he does have a touch of engineer/architect in his soul. Father Bob likes to build with Lego bricks. A lot of bricks. He has a passion for building that started early and has continued through adulthood and right up through priesthood.

What do you do with this skill?

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He recently completed a large replica of the University of Notre Dame’s Main Building with its Golden Dome. It is on permanent display in the southeast corner of McKenna Hall (across from the Morris Inn) and is viewable from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.

It took a long time to get it done. There with a pandemic in the middle of it all. It was a start-and-stop project. Moved it. A change in parishes. Took over the rectory living room on three card tables. Drive it to South Bend. It is a well-traveled piece of Lego art.

In the end, it has 300,000 Lego blocks, 70,000 tan blocks and 300 windows and blinds. The God Quad (lawn area by The Main Building) is dotted with scores of Lego characters. Little people each wearing the name of a dorm or a reference to a field of study. There are golf carts, priests, squirrels and a GrubHub robot.

Legends are part of the landscape — the Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh and the Rev. Edmund P. Joyce are walking on the quad again.

Lego versions of the Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh and the Rev. Edmund P. Joyce are among the figures who populate the Rev. Bob Simon's Lego replica of the University of Notre Dame's Administration Building and surrounding quad.
Lego versions of the Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh and the Rev. Edmund P. Joyce are among the figures who populate the Rev. Bob Simon's Lego replica of the University of Notre Dame's Administration Building and surrounding quad.

The Dome is painted gold, and the statue of Mary is a 3-D replica.

The building is 8 feet wide, and with landscaping, the project is more than 9 feet long. That’s a lot to move in a van from Pennsylvania.

Father Bob is pastor of Our Lady Queen of Peace Church in Brodheadsville, Pa. He was ordained in 1990 after studying at the University of Scranton and Seton Hall. He came to Notre Dame to take a one-credit class. He stayed and received a master’s degree in liturgy here in 1996.

Once he was on campus, he said, he found that it was a special place.

So how did the Lego Dome come to be?

This photo shows the backside of the University of Notre Dame's Golden Dome made of gold Lego bricks on a replica of the Administration Building made of 300,000 Lego bricks now on display on campus in McKenna Hall.
This photo shows the backside of the University of Notre Dame's Golden Dome made of gold Lego bricks on a replica of the Administration Building made of 300,000 Lego bricks now on display on campus in McKenna Hall.

Father Bob said he actually had put the Lego blocks away at one point. However, he got a Lego train kit as a gift. A simple act of kindness started things rolling again. Time to get more bricks.

In 2015, he built a replica of the Vatican with 500,000 Lego bricks just in time for Pope Francis’ visit to Philadelphia. It was later exhibited in several cities in Poland and in Philadelphia.

On campus in 2020: Notre Dame Lego Club and TEA Branch replicate the Golden Dome with Legos in annual theme park build

Father Bob said this was his second Vatican build. He built a version of it in seventh grade. “I was quite proud of it,” until his sister showed him a photo of it. It wasn’t as impressive as he remembered.

The Vatican replica got Father Bob some press and airtime on affiliate stations and NPR.

Several people with Notre Dame connections saw his Vatican. Calls were made. Jim Small, associate vice president for storytelling and engagement, called in 2019. Jim wanted to know if Father Bob would be interested in the project. “He said he was waiting for this his entire life,” Jim said.

The Rev. Bob Simon recently finished building a replica of the University of Notre Dame's Administration Building out of 300,000 Lego blocks. The Brodheadsville, Pa.-based priest has had a lifelong love of Lego and architecture.
The Rev. Bob Simon recently finished building a replica of the University of Notre Dame's Administration Building out of 300,000 Lego blocks. The Brodheadsville, Pa.-based priest has had a lifelong love of Lego and architecture.

Jim added it was a great idea. The perfect story to tell. “A Notre Dame alum and a priest who built a replica of the Vatican. It has everything.”

Jim said he made it into the replica. He is honored to be in a golf cart behind the building.

Father Bob started in 2020 and worked from architecture plans drawn by students in the 1940s. Ultimately, the Lego windows dictate the construction. Only so many kinds of windows are available. The priest said no large project like this can be completed without Bricklink — an online fan community and marketplace that also has digital Lego building software — for Lego items.

He worked evenings and rainy afternoons. Things slowed with COVID. The project filled the living room and pushed chairs to the corners. For the priest, it was a project of love and contemplation. “It has a meditative quality,” he said.

The model was loaded into a van and came to South Bend twice for Notre Dame Day in the spring. It was completed this spring. “It was a three-year period but seven or eight months of work. I couldn’t have done it without the support of Notre Dame,” he said.

This view looks down on the quad near the University of Notre Dame's Administration Building made from 300,000 Lego bricks. A miniature of the university's president, the Rev. John Jenkins, stands on the steps.
This view looks down on the quad near the University of Notre Dame's Administration Building made from 300,000 Lego bricks. A miniature of the university's president, the Rev. John Jenkins, stands on the steps.

Father Bob is happy it is done. He loves to see the joy it brings others. All those kids who grew up building with the bricks. “I heard that 90% of NASA engineers grew up with Lego.”

Nothing is in the works right now other than a little rest. He said he will visit the Golden Dome (the big and little one) in the fall for a football weekend.

Kathy Borlik
Kathy Borlik

Contact Kathy at kfborlik@yahoo.com.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Notre Dame's Golden Dome, admin building rendered in Legos