--- title: Wizarding World's Coolest Dad Built Diagon Alley for Kids description: A Seattle dad transformed his driveway into the famous Harry Potter magical street for Halloween — and it's open to visitors. canonical: https://time.com/5007180/diagon-alley-project/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-11-02T15:39:39.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:48:26.594Z og:title: Wizarding World's Coolest Dad Built Diagon Alley for Kids og:description: He transformed his driveway into the familiar street from Harry Potter og:url: https://time.com/5007180/diagon-alley-project/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt99791908566d0a67/6988e4560a4a2202b59d08ec/diagon-alley.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3572 og:image:height: 2009 og:image:alt: Making Of Harry Potter Tour - London og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Wizarding World's Coolest Dad Built Diagon Alley for Kids twitter:description: He transformed his driveway into the familiar street from Harry Potter twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt99791908566d0a67/6988e4560a4a2202b59d08ec/diagon-alley.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Wizarding World's Coolest Dad Actually Built a Life-Size Diagon Alley for His Kids > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Nov 2, 2017 3:39 PM UTC  Diagon Alley On Display During The Press Day At The Making Of Harry Potter Tour. Warner Bros. Studios London. (Photo by John Phillips/UK Press via Getty Images) Diagon Alley On Display During The Press Day At The Making Of Harry Potter Tour. Warner Bros. Studios London. (Photo by John Phillips/UK Press via Getty Images) John Phillips—UK Press via Getty Images  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Nov 2, 2017 3:39 PM UTC A corner of a muggle neighborhood has been utterly transformed into a life-size replica of a world-famous street: Diagon Alley. As the London center of the wizarding world, [Diagon Alley](http://time.com/2894778/harry-potter-diagon-alley/) is best known for its dazzling array of magical shops, from Eeylops Owl Emporium to Madam Malkin’s Robes for All Occasions and Quality Quidditch Supplies. So although Seattle resident and project mastermind Jon Chambers may be [a Muggle](http://time.com/money/4499118/harry-potter-privet-drive-home/), he decided to bring the fantastical place to life in his very own driveway in his Ballard neighborhood, for the joy of his daughters — and visitors. (So far, they have had more than 2,600 stop through, as Chambers shared [on social media](https://www.instagram.com/p/Ba8UezphVX9/?taken-by=dummaloop).) “I’ve always wanted to do something massive for Halloween or Christmas,” Chambers [told GeekWire](https://www.geekwire.com/2017/construction-wizard-seattle-man-builds-giant-diagon-alley-harry-potter-driveway/) earlier last week while still constructing the alley, which took about two weeks and [a few thousand](https://www.dailydot.com/parsec/diagon-alley-harry-potter-dad-diy/) dollars to put together. “I was born the day before Halloween, and October is like my power month. So I decided to quit my job and focus on this crazy thing.” From an entrance that recalls the moving bricks behind the Leaky Cauldron pub — as seen in the Harry Potter movies — to six faithfully-recreated storefronts painted in vivid hues, this Diagon Alley has earned its fair share of praise; J.K. Rowling herself even [“liked” a tweet](https://www.instagram.com/p/Ba9jLPvBIRq/?taken-by=dummaloop) about it. Chambers, who was formerly a creative director in tech and has worked in construction, seems perfectly poised to make the magic happen. As a long-time Potter fan with two daughters aged 7 and 11, he had an eager audience. He even had a 3D printer at home to craft unique touches like street lanterns and store signs. And his neighborhood chipped in, volunteering time and supplies to make their very own Diagon Alley a reality. The Alley will be open to visitors through New Year’s, and donations are being shared with a cancer charity. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5007180/diagon-alley-project/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5007180/diagon-alley-project/"},"headline":"The Wizarding World's Coolest Dad Actually Built a Life-Size Diagon Alley for His Kids","datePublished":"2017-11-02T15:39:39.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:48:26.594Z","description":"A Seattle dad transformed his driveway into the famous Harry Potter magical street for Halloween — and it's open to visitors.","url":"https://time.com/5007180/diagon-alley-project/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Bizarre","real estate","Harry Potter","halloween"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt99791908566d0a67/6988e4560a4a2202b59d08ec/diagon-alley.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt99791908566d0a67/6988e4560a4a2202b59d08ec/diagon-alley.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Making Of Harry Potter Tour - London","caption":"Making Of Harry Potter Tour - London","creditText":"John Phillips—UK Press via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5007180/diagon-alley-project/","name":"The Wizarding World's Coolest Dad Actually Built a Life-Size Diagon Alley for His Kids"}}]}] ```