Why you need two Detective's Offices

Do you have any photos of it alongside other modulars? Hard to get a sense of how it improves the scale when photographed by itself...

I think you should build a bedroom for the detective. Maybe a nice bed like in the Pet Shop and a press with a lamp on top and maybe a wardrobe/small kitchen section.

Sex shop, of course :)

How about a bail bond office? Goes along with the seedy nature of the rest of the building.

Now, what can you build with all the leftover pieces? And what are the plans for the second brown baseplate?

How about an Ultra Agents-style spy agency?

...that would be some tough competition.

The next business should be a tatoo parlor

I wouldn't pay £170 to have it configured this way, firstly it's too expensive and the front profile is very repetitive. It also means you have to place Ace Brickman's office on the third level to tie-in with the proposed story. I think having it is lower than the other modulars gives it a different look and show they are built in a different time period rather than having the 'box' modulars. Having it higher than Parisian Restaurant means it also needs a second floor. Judging what the Detective's Office set is based on it's better to have it how it comes in the box. I appreciate the modulars how they are now, they give a variety of different things we never got in the past which makes this and Parisian Restaurant stand out.

As for what you could put into the extra level I would say something related to The Simpsons, Batman or Spider-Man.

Adeel

Get an extra 46 and make Detective's Office edition of the Grand Emporium from Bricks by the Bay 2010. (See http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Inconspicuous/Misc/img_9259.jpg )

Now, as far as business ideas go- Pet Rock Outlet, Goat Rental Shop, Rent-a-Chicken, Lost Luggage Depot (it should be noted that these are all real)? The possibilities are limitless (bet even more so with Google!) Or maybe you could go for ironic, and furnish a safe-house for 8805-15 . ;)

Hmm, it definitely looks better next to Green Grocer, but now it looks too tall next to PR.

I wonder if, in your setup, it would look better if you removed one of the floors above Al's, but kept the extra floor on the left.

WAY too expensive for me to consider, unfortunately...

How about moving the agency to the top floor, I always envision these places up several flights of stairs with flickering lights. Then on the first floor have the mob boss owner of the pool hall's office with a couple henchmen.

How about a thrift shop.

I agree with ccjwprongs. Comparing the two photos, I think an extra floor on the dark orange side only would look even better. (Of course this requires some simple change to the roof edge details on the right side.)

This drives me Crazy as a TFOL, you can just go buy a second copy of a set that costs more than all the Lego i acquire in a year!

Do you mean using the rest of the parts from the second DO to create the new businesses, or any parts from your collection? Personally, I can see an apartment for the lady in red, or maybe a full flower shop. As for the second bathroom, I'm not sure, the space isn't very large, and would need to be something publicly accessible, given as it isn't behind any doors (besides the stall door).

While I agree that adding more floors is a good idea; buying a whole new model is a wee bit expensive. Waiting a few years and buying a used, Minifig-less one off Bricklink is my suggestion.
As for new floor ideas, how about adding a pawn shop? They seem shifty enough.

A second one? Why not buy three! Way too expensive, but if you can afford it...

But seriously, you could add a regular but run down apartment or the landowners office or both. Detective offices like these always seem to have someone who confronts the detective at the stairs about their ignored rent payments. This treatening about being thrown out of your own office is often used to add more drive behind having to finish the cases.
just a suggestion.

Or a mob boss hideout. It would be hilarious to have your elusive enemy working right above your nose!

Also, based on Huws pictures, the roofline on all the modulars seems to be consistent. The Green Grocer simply has a higher roof and the Detectives Office a lower one. Therefore, I think it wouldn't look too bad in it's original form when placed next to a modular that isn't the Green Grocer or the Town Hall.

I would love to see how you furnished the additional floor! Any chance we could see that?

I think the tattoo parlour idea was a good one, haha

Would it be cheaper just to part-source the top floor?

It looks a lot nicer now. Actually looks like a real building you'd see. :)
I've always wanted to see a printing press in a set- perhaps a newspaper shop?

I would say an either a comic store, a record store, or an arcade.

I expanded mine by enlarging each floor to the rear, it makes it look much better to me, while keeping the original look to it. I had a couple other sets that provided the additional parts to do it. Avoiding buying another one.

As for other uses for the extra floor, maybe a pawn shop. I can see the sign being 'Pawn' instead of 'Pool.' LOL

Honestly the brick side looks fine taller, the blue side looks a lot worse. I would have left it alone.

I think the extra floors take away from the original design and make the buildings look bizarrely skewed. The differing heights are what create a dramatic skyline.

I like the original setup better. Yes, the Detective's Office is a shortie, but in real life buildings have different roof-lines too. And the blue side of the building is just fine (and tall enough) as it is. The Detective's Office side does look good two-stories high, but the blue building is now way too tall and out of proportion both as a building in itself, and compared to the other ones.

I think if you want to maintain an even roof-line the only option would be is to make the Detective's Office a story higher, but keeping the blue building as it is - thus evening the roof lines. This would make the building more boring on top though and eliminate being able to walk out on the roof-top. So I guess it just depends what are each person's priorities; tall buildings, even roof line, or just keeping them as they are.

A tarot readers... office? ...parlor? ...place? I guess I don't know what the proper term would be but think it would fit the theme pretty well.

Looking great! The "problem" with the Parisian Restaurant can easily be solved: https://flic.kr/p/owsRzT

I prefer it original but as for ideas for a second room...apartment for a struggling or washed up actress, perhaps the detective had a date with her recently, perhaps she winds up dead, suicide...or was it? The cops close the case...only one man cares what really happened...

I prefer the set as is. As far as I'm concerned, the height is not a problem. The extra floor makes for a taller building, not a better building. This obsession with having all the modular buildings be similar in height is strange in my opinion.

How about a second job?

I wonder if people's preference for building height/even skylines has something to do with where they live...i imagine the UK's skyline being more even than say that of the US.

That is over my limit in $$....

It's all a case of what buildings you put it next to. In regards to the photo of it sandwiched between the Green Grocer and Parisian Restaurant, build the Detective Agency in mirror-image form and you'll have the smaller brown portion next to the smaller Parisian Restaurant.

Here in New York the skylines differ between neighborhoods. In lower manhattan I could picture the roofs being of different heights. More uptown they are uniform. Depends on the block really.

I kind of prefer the set shorter, to be honest. One of the great things about the modular buildings is how packed they are with detail. And here, I feel like the extra floors aren't adding any new or interesting details, just raising the height and piece count. Contrast this with the other modular buildings. The Pet Shop, Café Corner, Green Grocer, Fire Brigade, Palace Cinema, Parisian Restaurant, and Town Hall all have a different look for every floor. Only the Grand Emporium has a third floor that, other than the interior furnishings and exterior flagpoles, is a carbon copy of the one below it.

I also agree with some people that having some buildings considerably taller or shorter than others makes for a more interesting layout than one where all the roofs are around the same height.

With that said, I appreciate that ALL the modular buildings are designed in such a way that you can duplicate the second floor of each (and the third, in the case of the Town Hall) if you so choose. That way you can make certain buildings taller or shorter than the original sets, or even raise the height of your entire modular street! And designing sets to allow this kind of expansion does take some careful thought, since you have to ensure that the staircases up to and up from the second floor end at the same point on the floor plan!

As mentioned above, the left part looks great elevated, the right part didn't need the boost, so we are down to only 2/3 of money needed to improve this set, so like £30... only that color of mason bricks... curses!

I get why you added it, but in a larger layout, the height difference might add some variety to the block.

Ehm, nope, it's not. All older sets are about 2k pieces, and this one is 2k pieces, so..

A few ideas = A gun shop! Wait, Lego does not produce guns ;)
A dance studio! I've seen them end up above places like this.
A music shop or recording studio or practice space for a sax player. Pool hall,
detective, and some jazz music seem to go well together.

I like the ideas of a pawn shop; but no pawn shop would be on a second/third floor. The pool hall could move up, though. Pawn shops take in heavy items some times, and who wants to lug heavy items up and down a stairs to a pawn shop?

Oh. Wow. That looks so much better with two floors. And I thought it looked nice originally!

How about a neighborhood drug store?

If you want to enhance the overall feel of the several businesses that are already in the set of buildings, I think you should add a public stenographer's office with a switchboard. It's a 30's/ 40's style of place, and could be a source of information for the private eye, since a public stenography place would have a sub-business of taking messages for its business patrons. You can imagine Roz Russell and Humphrey Bogart wandering in and out of a place like that, and it would have a nice way for dodgy customers to excuse their visiting such a questionable pair of establishments. :)

Wishful thinking if these were allowed back on sale in the US, but as that is unlikely to occur then it will only likely be one DO set for me.
I guess the other option is to use the instructions and inventory to make a list of parts to purchase the parts new and to then add the other floors that way. Not sure how much more cost effective that will be though.

Why not just put it the other side of the PR? I reckon next to the even shorter raised patio area it wouldn't look too bad.
I really don't get the fuss about the height, but hey, mine's just one opinion among many.

Ive done that with several of my Modulars to including MS, CC, GE, and PS. As for suggestions, I'd. just try to complete the apartment. It at least needs a bedroom.

Here's a you-tube link of a guy that made his double-wide vice taller. Has a nice look.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eE3qqU0iXA4&feature=youtu.be

A pawn shop would go well for the second floor.

I wouldn't have put in the extra floor on the hairdresser side

LOL! "Wouldn't you pay an extra $55?"

I know you read the comments, Huw. Can you imagine the wailing and gnashing of teeth over a modular building at $215? Because I can.

BWAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!!!!

i personally don't feel the need for an additional floor to this. I've placed it between pet shop and parisian restaurant so they complement each other well. My green grocer is placed on the other end with cafe corner and market street.

I don't feel the need for the extra floor due to it being roughly the same height as the Parisian Restaurant. I'll take shorter modulars with more details (Parisian Restaurant) any day of the week.

The bigger reason for disagreeing about the extra floor is that I thought this was the most boring modular to build. I thought the cinema was bad, but I was bored this entire build! I think the finished product looks great. Just so so so so boring!

There are so many photographers in LEGO City (especially with the modulars), so I think a dark room for developing film (a bit antiquated in this digital age) would be a good fit for the space above the PI's office.

As for the other half of the building, it really is missing an apartment space, so that is where the mysterious lady in red ought to live.

I'm not sure I agree it looks wrong. The 2-story brick building sitting shorter than a newer renovated neighbor is prototypical of many, many small city downtowns in the midwest, USA (probably elsewhere in the country too). Especially given the style of the buildings. You could build that pair with real bricks, drop it in any of the downtowns or campustown locally to me and it'd fit right in.

I think if I were inclined to do something, I'd add a row of bricks and make the existing stories just a touch taller. They seem a bit too squat compared to most of the modulars.

I have not buildt mine yet, but i have to agree to that the left side looks good but right side looks to high with PR. A city always have some older smaller building beside some new buiildings.

Huw can you show us how does the ground floor combined with the 2nd floor look like(what remains from the 2nd set)

The double high office section looks good when combined with all the other modulars, but as mentioned above I think I'd leave the blue apartment section as per the original, otherwise it looks too tall (especially next to the Parisian Restaurant ).

I'd be tempted to move the Detectives office to the top floor and have a Mob boss type office or gambling den directly over the Pool Hall as someone else suggested above.

Surely you need a lower roof for your Police/Private Eye/Non Powered Superheroes to jump on to from higher buildings when chasing criminals?

I have bought another set and intend to make the 2 buildings another 16 studs wider. Plans are for the pool hall to acquire a bar (they are allowed in my Lego Universe!) and make AL's into CALV's. All I need to do is find some time to rebuild.

I only came out of my 'Dark Age' in the last 12 months or so, and my first modular set was the Pet Shop, followed by the Parisian Restaurant. I have slotted my new DO in between the PS (left) and PR (right) and size-wise the street is looking great as is (IMO).

I'm not that tempted by any of the sets prior to the PS - I think Lego has really upped its game in terms of detail - inside and out - with the last three. Looking forward to the next one!

Top floor. Loft bedroom with an artist's studio. Complete with nude model? :D

You already have a great CMF Artist. Just add a lecherous face.

The extra floor on the left looks great! But on the right side I would it keep in the original height. And my idea for the left extra floor is a newspaper editorial office.

I think the main problem will be that every future modular is likely to be about this height, so to keep them all consistent, you'll have to buy two of each one in future... ;)

Wow Huw, amazing work

This article really only illustrates why you need THREE! Two to build the expanded version as shown, and one MORE so you can photograph them side-by-side.

Here's to sensationalism. I wonder what you could do with the remaining two-thirds of the second set...

I would build an apartment... Or honestly, a hideout for the cookie smugglers? The problem is is that it kind of has to go with the storyline of the set :( Maybe a SCUBA rental shop? How about a costume shop?

Maybe it should have a spooky glowing door, empty crib, and a big sticker on the wall saying 'BRING US THE GIRL AND WIPE AWAY THE DEBT'.

I would suggest a photo studio or a lab of some sorts.
A private detective could do with both closeby.

Ow only now I see yoy thought of a photo studio yourself.
Bummer, thought I had a good idea. On the other hand I probably did. You thought of it aswell!

How about a chemistry lab for the Detective with formulas to uncover footprints or something?

Love the idea of the Jazz club mentioned above

Combining above discussions about Parisian & DO floor having a newspaper.... I say the extra floor goes to a satirical newspaper.... je suis charlie, and all.

The original DO looks just fine to me.

Now, the orange building can handle a height expansion alright, but if you're going to increase the size of the blue building, then it's better to make its footprint bigger, as I've read many a tale of the original build's interior being a little too small for people's hands to manipulate items inside the barber shop, for example.

If you have to build another floor on the orange building, I'll suggest having an architect firm. Does Lego make minifig rulers (measuring devices, not kings/queens) that aren't Friends?

A restaurant?

Clothing (mainly suit) shop. For the suave

Darn it Huw, how much is Lego paying you to make me buy two of these? ; P

No, but serially that does look good. What I'd like to see is how it looks with the rest of the Modulars. I may have to do this. We'll see.

one is enough. my girlfriend will already break up with me for the money i spend on lego...??

Tattoo shop. Use the extra chair and add this guy. http://tinyurl.com/m6obtk6. Mohawk guy from series 4 I think..

I like the original version. Variety is a good thing. I'm glad not all of the buildings are the same size as it lends some credibility to the landscape. NYC, Boston, Chicago...they aren't all the same size. Why should our Lego town be?

you can make it into the detective's apartment

Looking into the types of establishments in the same building as a Detective's office during the period this architecture is styled after (I'm a research nut) it would have to be either a tattoo parlor or bail bondsman to be most accurate. However, a loft would probably be the most fitting as a lot of Detective's were single and kept very odd hours and would need a place to rest their weary eyes.

How about an internet start up company?!?!