A match made in heaven: Edmonton senior building historic landmarks with matchsticks

An Edmonton-area senior has brought some international landmarks to life with matchsticks, and his next project is the Alberta legislature.

Esmond Warren is building international landmarks one matchstick at a time.

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The 87-year-old first began creating models after this daughter gifted him a set for Christmas 10 years ago, sparking a new passion.

“I thought good grief, I was not too impressed with it at the start but once I got into it, I really enjoyed it,” Warren told CTV News Edmonton.

His projects have included the Tower Bridge in London and the Taj Mahal in India. He says each project takes him more than 200 hours to finish.

“She (his wife) kind of rolls her eyes when I go down to the man cave and I say ‘I won’t be long,’ and of course she says I’m twice as long as I said I was going to be,” Warren said.

He also built the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and says it’s his favourite one. It was built as a special project in honour of his granddaughter, who died of complications of cystic fibrosis.

She started the project but wasn’t able to finish it.

“When she passed away she left me with the instructions that I should finish it for her, so I was very proud to be able to do that,” he said.

He has his eyes set on a local landmark that most Albertans will recognize, the legislature.

“I cut the wood for that one and I’m building that one from scratch, no blue prints,” he said.

The biggest challenge of building these intricate pieces is walking away from the project, Warren said.

“When I’m really enthused with what I’m doing and put in a lot of time, (when) I have to go do something else and to leave it sometimes it’s quite hard,” he said.

Warren says he’s open to his matchstick landmarks being displayed, especially when his miniature Alberta legislature is complete.

While his hobby might be time consuming, each piece is made with a labour of love.