Hotel Nacional de Cuba Souvenir Building

This replica building depicts the Hotel Nacional de Cuba, the historic luxury hotel located in Havana Its illustrious guests included artists, actors, athletes, writers and politicians. After 14 bids, one of these sold on eBay for $316. The souvenir measures 2” H x 4” W x 2.5” D and was made by Microcosms. The real structure was designed by the New York firm McKim, Mead and White and features an eclectic mix of architectural styles. It opened in 1930, when Cuba was a prime travel destination for Americans, long before the embargo. The hotel was closed by Fidel Castro in 1960 then reopened after restoration during the 1990s. Its architecture shows a mixture of the Art-Deco features, the Arab influences, the Spanish-Moorish architecture, as well as neoclassical and neo-up environment are details from the California of centuries ago.

Mystery Asian Souvenir Building Box

Building Collector reader Steve sent me these photos of a recently acquired souvenir building. He wonders if anyone can identify the structure. There is Asian writing on the bottom. The Building is a very heavy metal box and depicts a 14-story building. It stands 4.5 inches and the unhinge top comes off. Steve writes, “Exterior has silver aluminum finish but is much too heavy to be made of aluminum. Base feels like lead. Looks like it might have been used to hold a cigarette pack and matches. The bottom has a single line of writing in what I think is Japanese. Have never seen it before and it is a great piece. No dents and remarkable that the unattached top did not get separated and lost.” If anyone has clues to its identity email me or write via the ‘comments’ link below.

Siege Museum Souvenir Building Replica

Housed in the circa 1839 Exchange Building, the Siege Museum interprets civilian life in Petersburg, Virginia before, during, and immediately after the Civil War. The museum records the ten-month siege of Petersburg, from June 1864 to April 1865, which was the longest period of time that an American city has been under a military siege. The exhibition illustrates how the siege impacted civilian life in Petersburg. The original Exchange Building was built between 1839 and 1841 in the Greek revival architectural style. The building was commissioned by a group of merchants to create a trading center where graded and certified samples of agricultural products could be shown to prospective buyers. A miniature building replica was produced by Dixie Trainer’s Souvenir Building Network. I wrote to Bill Trainer who told me, “Dixie was commissioned to have the Siege Museum piece made by the city of Petersburg, Virginia to celebrate its 250th anniversary. Manufacturer was Bates and Klink (Mass.). Dimensions: 1 ¾ tall, 1 ¾ wide and 2 7/8 long. It must have been made in the 1997-1999 period.”

Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Replica

Named, “Mini Stone of Hope,” a miniature replica of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial is available both at the site and on the online gift shop. It’s an exact replica of the 30-foot sculpture located at Dr. King's Memorial produced in resin. This piece was commissioned and designed by the King Memorial's Sculptor of Record, Master Lei Yixin. Dimensions are 6.5"H x 6.5"L x 3.5"W. The real Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial is located in Washington, D.C. and is the newest memorial on the National Mall. It commemorates the year that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 became law. Covering four acres, the memorial opened to the public on August 22, 2011, after more than two decades of planning, fund-raising and construction. The memorial's design, by ROMA Design Group, a San Francisco-based architecture firm, was selected out of 900 candidates from 52 countries. The centerpiece for the memorial is based on a line from King's "I Have A Dream" speech: "Out of a mountain of despair, a stone of hope." A 30 feet (9.1 m)-high relief of King named the “Stone of Hope” stands past two other pieces of granite that symbolize the "mountain of despair." Recently, it was discovered that a quote carved in stone on the new Martin Luther King memorial was incorrect and will be changed after the inscription was criticized for not accurately reflecting the civil rights leader's words

Worlds Largest Collection of Souvenir Buildings

The Today Show’s Travel section and MSNBC have featured David & Margaret’s largest collection of souvenir buildings in the world – 5,000 replicas strong. It has good insight into how the collection began and how the duo organizes the collection.

Hell Gate Bridge New York Replicas

UPDATE: Reader David W. sent me the above additional image of the bridge manufactured by Lionel, for their electric train layouts, from 1928 to 1942. This miniature is 30" long, 11" high and shows up periodically on eBay.

Reader, Scott D., wrote the following about replica of an unusual bridge in NYC.

“Hell Gate Bridge, or the New York Connecting Railroad Bridge, contrasts sharply with nineteenth-century descriptions of the channel that it spans. Named for the dangerous rocks and perilous waters at the confluence of the East and the Harlem Rivers, Hell Gate is surrounded by Manhattan, Queens, and three islands. The Bridge was conceived in the early 1900s it was built to complete the linkage of the New York, New England, and Long Island rail line. Construction was overseen by engineer Gustave Lindenthal and architect Henry Hornbostel had previously been responsible for the redesign of both the Manhattan and Queensboro Bridges. Lindenthal, who served in 1902 -1903 as Commissioner of Bridges, firmly believed that a bridge could be both technologically sound and aesthetically pleasing. Hornbostel made the design changed to smooth concrete to soothe concerns that asylum inmates on Wards and Randall's islands would climb the piers to escape. The engineering was so precise that when the last section of the main span was lifted into place, the final adjustment needed to join everything together was a half inch. The bridge was completed on September 30, 1916. It was the world's longest steel arch bridge until the Bayonne Bridge was opened in 1931 and was surpassed again by the Sydney Harbor Bridge in 1932. In the late 1980's and early 1990's, Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who spent his childhood near the bridge in Astoria, lobbied to have the Hell Gate Bridge refurbished. Although the nearby Triborough Bridge was being maintained and repainted constantly, the Hell Gate Bridge had not been painted since it opened in 1916. Buttressed by a 1991 article in The New Yorker on what Moynihan called "a great engineering miracle," Congress appropriated $55 million to repair and refurbish the Hell Gate Bridge. A unique color was even selected for the bridge paint: "Hell Gate Red." The restoration project was completed in 1996. A few miniature replicas of the bridge have been made and one is made out of wood. Each piece is exactly like the original bridge. I was told this is an engineering model of the bridge.

Interesting, but not really a souvenir is the Chris Burden’s Hell Gate Bridge that is a piece of his bridge sculpture series. The 28-foot-long, 7 1/2 -foot-high model of New York City's Hell Gate Bridge is fashioned of metal toy construction parts.

The next time you’re traveling by train to Boston be sure to know you’re in good hands going over Hell’s Gate.” – Scott D.

Texas State History Museum Building Replica

Souvenir replicas of the Texas State History Museum are available from their online gift shop. According to the site, the replica "is made of specially blended stone-like clay that has been air-dried and hand-tinted." It measures 4.5"w x 2"h x 2"d at base. The Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum in downtown Austin, Texas, tells the “Story of Texas.” Also available from the same website are replicas of the Alamo and the Texas State Capitol building.