Hogwarts Castle
Research, rebuilding, and a slightly unreasonable amount of floor planning.
The project I always come back to
I never really set out to spend years building Hogwarts. It started more simply: I loved the castle, I loved Minecraft. What began as a fun build quickly turned into something much deeper. The more I worked on it, the more I found myself researching tiny architectural details and rebuilding sections I thought I’d finished after new reference material became available.
I documented this journey on YouTube, where my channel has grown to over 40,000 subscribers and 8 million views. I have also produced a 34-episode tutorial series guiding viewers through the castle’s construction.
The Interior
Any Minecraft builder would agree with me - interior SUCKS. Making a coherent interior which doesn't appear like a maze is no easy task, especially given the lack of reference material and that the films were clearly filmed in a non-Euclidean space to get everything to connect.
I put my digital art skills to the test and made a custom resource pack with 50+ custom models and textures to bring the castle to life.
Explore the castle
History
The Journey
February 2019
Episode 1 of Building Hogwarts is released
July 2019
After a break, work resumes on the East Wing. I also release my Discord server and my community starts to grow.
September 2019
The East Wing is re-worked to improve its accuracy. I commit to trying to release weekly episodes of my Let's Build series.
October 2019
The Astronomy Tower is added. Its design will be updated many times.
December 2019
Work on the Grand Staircase Tower and Great Hall begins. It's really starting to look like Hogwarts!
February 2020
The Prisoner of Azkaban castle extension is added, as well as the surrounding landscape.
April 2020
Some major re-work on the East Wing - don't build Minecraft towers an even number of blocks wide! The Viaduct Entrance, Central Tower, and Bell Towers are all re-designed.
May 2020
The Great Hall is re-designed and pushed backwards to allow for a more accurate viaduct angle.
July 2020
The Great Lake and Scottish mountains are built using World Painter - I learn how to render Minecraft builds (crudely) in Blender.
August 2020
The Transfiguration Courtyard is re-designed to be more accurate to Durham Cathedral. The Bell Towers are also re-designed.
October 2020
Every roof is rebuilt at a steeper angle (PoA style). The Boat House is also updated to the HBP design rather than DH2.
April 2021
The landscape is majorly overhauled by hand to be more true to the Half Blood Prince model. The Boat House Staircase is also re-built in line with the new landscape.
April 2022
Custom window models are implemented to improve accuracy and maximise interior space.
August 2023
The Glenfinnan Viaduct and Hogsmeade Station are added into the surrounding landscape.
Me trying to make Hogwarts interiors connect
