LEGO Harry Potter Hogwarts Main Tower Build

For two years, LEGO has been advancing its most ambitious project yet: a minifigure-scale recreation of Hogwarts Castle from the Harry Potter universe. This castle remains a work in progress, eventually to be formed from numerous interconnected yet individually sold sets. The first major release, the Great Hall, launched in Fall 2024.

Hogwarts Castle: The Main Tower

$259.99 at Amazon$259.99 at LEGO Store

The Main Tower, now available, is the second core set in this modular system. It is designed to connect with a variety of separate ancillary buildings and classrooms, such as Hogwarts Castle: Potions Class (Set #76431), Hogwarts Castle Owlery (Set #76430), Hogwarts Castle: Flying Lessons (Set #76447), and Hogwarts Castle Boathouse (Set #76426).

However, the Main Tower also functions perfectly as a standalone playset, particularly for fans of the first book and film, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

We Built LEGO Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle - The Main Tower

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Like the preceding Great Hall, the Main Tower opens at the back to reveal numerous rooms and dioramas depicting key movie moments. The lowest sections, built first, are the underground chambers guarding the Sorcerer's Stone. From left to right, you'll find the Devil's Snare room, the Flying Keys room, and the expansive Wizard's Chess chamber.

Each room features interactive, movable elements. The Devil's Snare can be flipped up or down from the ceiling via a cleverly concealed switch in the rock wall. The Flying Keys rotate on a pedestal to simulate flight. The large chess pieces are independently movable.

The set includes LEGO minifigures of Harry, Hermione, and Ron, which is essential—these scenes truly come alive when the trio is interacting with them. LEGO focused on recreating specific book moments rather than designing generic play spaces for this section. In addition to the main trio, the set contains nine other minifigures for a total of 12: Neville Longbottom, Dean Thomas, Marcus Flint, Percy Weasley, Ernie Macmillan, Lisa Turpin, Professor Dumbledore, Professor Kettleburn, and Nearly Headless Nick.

Directly above the Devil's Snare room lies Fluffy, Hagrid's three-headed dog, guarding a trapdoor that leads to the chambers below. In the room's back-right corner is a harp, which Professor Quirrell uses to lull Fluffy to sleep. The harp's design is particularly creative, with two separate builds joined by hinges to form its distinctive shape. A door on the right opens into a narrow hallway leading to an exterior balcony.

Above Fluffy's room is the Gryffindor common room, adorned in its signature scarlet and gold. It features a bedroom with two beds and, to the right, two armchairs and a fireplace. The floor is tiered, with the sitting area sunken into a cozy well, enhancing the room's intimate feel.

All these individual rooms are separate builds with their own instruction booklets. This allows for collaborative building—with a partner, friend, or as a parent-child team—as the completed modules easily stack and connect. They are joined via several connection points, making them simple to separate for easier scene posing or individual play. While sets of this complexity are often rated 18+, the Main Tower and related Hogwarts Castle sets are 10+, striking a better balance between play and display.

After capping these sections with a roof, you construct the actual Main Tower, which stacks five rooms vertically. The first three floors house Hogwarts' iconic moving staircases, designed by Rowena Ravenclaw. Two staircases are mounted on rotating platforms. Portraits adorn the walls, and a gargoyle on the third floor guards the entrance to Professor Dumbledore's office.

That office occupies the fourth floor, lined with portraits of past headmasters and filled with fascinating magical artifacts. To the right of Dumbledore's desk are the Sword of Godric Gryffindor and the Pensieve. To the left sits the Sorting Hat, complete with a mouth near its brim. Dumbledore's office is perhaps the set's highlight, beautifully furnished and perfect for staging Harry's evening lessons with the Headmaster.

Finally, you build the massive spire that crowns the tower. Inside is the fifth and final room, containing the Mirror of Erised. The mirror is on a rotating platform, allowing you to switch between two images: one showing Harry with his parents, the other showing him holding the Sorcerer's Stone.

The Main Tower's scale is impressive, standing over two feet tall from the base rockwork to the spire's peak. Combined with the Great Hall, it's even more striking, forming a seamless castle exterior. The combined interiors are a sensory overload of iconic Hogwarts scenes condensed into a compact space.

In summary, the only thing left to say is that I want to see more. LEGO's previous massive Hogwarts Castle felt somewhat pieced together post-release, with no official assembly guide, leaving fans to decipher promotional images. This time, it feels like there's a master plan. I strongly suspect a "complete" Hogwarts Castle blueprint exists at LEGO headquarters, whether physically or digitally. The designers aren't improvising; they are working toward a definitive final vision.

It will take years to complete. But if LEGO maintains this level of detail and commitment throughout, the result will be an unparalleled achievement. To be continued.

LEGO Hogwarts Castle: The Main Tower, Set #76454, has 2135 pieces and retails for $259.99. It is available now.