Timothy Richards’ Miniatures and Architectural Models in Washington, DC

Timothy Richards’ Miniatures and Architectural Models in Washington, DC

Please Make me a  Model

At his workshop in England, Timothy Richards creates exquisite replicas of the world’s great buildings. 

Miniatures and Architectural Models ~ Custom Replicas of Buildings
The Flat Iron in NYC, The Capitol Building, The Lincoln Memorial, The White House
The models are handmade in gypsum plaster, using a complicated process that involves constructing a master from styrene sheets, then casting in silicone rubber molds created from the master. Most models range in size from 20cm to 70cm, and the level of accuracy is remarkable: photographed from a certain angle, the mini Pantheon could pass for the real thing.

Using the lost-wax process, Richards makes a bronze of the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates that accompanies the Richard H. Driehaus Prize, an annual $200,000 award for new classical architecture; he also created the one-off Driehaus Patronage Award, a bronze Tower of the Winds presented to Prince Charles.

Bespoke models start at £4,000, and, in many cases, variants are added to the workshop’s permanent collection, where prices range from £80 for a Jane Austen house to £11,800 for a limited-edition Flatiron Building. A handful of models have been resold at auction: a limited edition Spencer House went through Sotheby’s for $6,875.

Curiously, Richards and his team (including John Marlour, who has worked with Richards for 20 years) are unique in producing plaster models of this kind.

 

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