House Turned into Magic School Inspired by Hogwarts

A man in Springville (Utah, U.S.) has turned his home into a magical academy, inspired by the Harry Potter series with the aim of letting children explore their imaginations.

Benjamin Lee-Roche is an artist working in the film industry, and his project – which has been in the works for over a year – certainly proves his talent: his historic two-story house is being decorated as Blackburn Academy of the Magical Arts. He collects antiques, decorates them and either sells them on as Potter-inspired items, or keeps them for use in the academy. When KSL visited him, he was making antique bottles into a potion bottles:

“They find the old pioneer houses, and they dig up the old outhouses,” he said, while putting droplets of food coloring in the bottles. “This is the kind of thing they find.”

This project started as a haunted house, and then, realising his love for Halloween and Christmas, Benjamin thought Harry Potter was an even better fit – they’re certainly not lacking in festivities at Hogwarts! He originally wanted to create a Potter-inspired experience at a local museum, but with a house from the 1880s, it’s a missed opportunity not to use the beauty of the past to make progress in the future, and that’s exactly what Lee-Roche is aiming to do.

(Photo from KSL)

As a set designer, it’s only to be expected that Benjamin was inspired by the production design in Potter – the set designers do an amazing job of paying the very closest attention to detail in everything they do, and it shows – visit the Studio Tour once and you’ll know what we mean.  Lee-Rochee said this project is homage to the fantastic team behind the series but also has his own interests and local touches intertwined within the work:

“You look at what I’m doing, and think, ‘Oh, he’s obsessed,” Lee-Roche said.

“One of the things that really attracted me to the Harry Potter stories is how it merges so many different aesthetics, like Victorian or Medieval, and really, it’s a credit to the production designers of the movies,” he said.

He said to The Daily Herald:

“The thing about what I’m doing is, I’m not trying to just carbon copy and copycat,” Lee-Roche said. “I tried to take the principles in adapting each wizarding environment to the local vicinity. I went with the medieval and Victorian, but Wild West specifically.”

The academy is made to ‘awaken imagination’ in children, and uses the idea of magic to help teach children the value of creativity and fiction:

“What I’m obsessed with is trying to awaken imagination in kids,” he said. “It’s my opinion that the school system as well as civilization in general — whether it’s intentional or not — sucks the creativity out of kids.”

“Like they have the permission to wonder and to imagine,” he said.

“I feel like if I can find a way to help awaken and inspire that desire inside of people, then I will have been well served in whatever it is I’m doing,” he said

His house has various ‘classrooms’, inspired by historic architecture:

Master Mortimer’s Magical Mercantile, an old fashioned tent posing as a store filled with antique props such as quill holders Lee-Roche has made himself, selling items from wands, robes and butterscotch beer (a bestseller), helping to fund the academy:

“I get these at Michael’s, the shell casing I get from my roommate, and then together, it’s like a little quill holder,” he said.

There’s also a potions room, a Herbology greenhouse, a Divination room and a Care of Magical Creatures department, allowing students to handle live snakes, rats, tarantulas, frogs and a bearded dragon.

On the potions room, Lee-Roche says:

“There’ll be various sensational but safe reactions that you would normally see like in a chemistry class,” Lee-Roche said.

According to Standard Examiner he said he wanted to “limit my classes to things I know can be sensational or interactive. I’m researching different chemical reactions that are reasonably safe that people can see that will create lights or color changes or growing things.”

An on Herbology classes:

“Most what happens in the movie is they re-pot plants, and that’s probably what we’ll do.”

A local comedian is also planned to come in an give Divination lessons, examining crystal balls and reading tea leaves. More practical skills such as candle dipping, bookbinding and calligraphy are also planned for prospective classes.

Benjamin has a dual role in this academy:

“I play two characters who are twins,” he said. “One’s in charge of the mercantile store, the other’s in charge of the haunted house — the boarding house. Mortimer and Benjamin Blackburn.”

According to Realtor, Blackburn Academy of the Magical Arts is accepting applicants, and has ‘tuition’ fees of $8 to $15 per class. If you live a little far, the ‘academy’ even has an Airbnb account, for $40 per night. The dorm room is Gryffindor inspired, and allows full immersion in the Hogwarts-inspired academy.

Realtor also reports on expansion plans:

““I want to make this larger scale,” he says, and claims to be eyeing other properties for expansion. Future plans include a larger feasting hall and even a walk down Diagon Alley”

Read the full report over at KSL here, more details at Realtor here and visit the academy’s Facebook page here.