‘Harry Potter’ inspires Utah Airbnb owner to create ‘mock magic academy’

A Springville man is renting rooms to wizardry fans in his Harry Potter-inspired home.

Benjamin Lee-Roche ultimately wants his 1880s house to be a mock magic academy where people can take classes in calligraphy and potions, the Daily Herald reports.

Lee-Roche is paying his mortgage mainly by renting rooms.

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“The Harry Potter fans are amazing,” Lee-Roche said. “They’re so fun to be around. They’re enthusiastic. They’re appreciative.”

The Blackburn Academy of the Magical Arts is not yet taking students, but Lee Roche said he wants to “limit my classes to things I know can be sensational or interactive. I’m researching different chemical reactions that are reasonably safe that people can see that will create lights or colour changes or growing things.”

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He said he wants people to be able to learn practical skills like candle dipping and bookbinding.

“In fact, my goal is to not just have these be entertainment, but to help people learn valuable skills,” Lee-Roche said.

Rooms are strategically named to abide by copyright laws.

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“The thing about what I’m doing is, I’m not trying to just carbon copy and copycat,” Lee-Roche said. “I tried to take the principles in adapting each wizarding environment to the local vicinity. I went with the medieval and Victorian, but Wild West specifically.”

Lee-Roche said the fans of J.K. Rowling’s fantasy series have been enthusiastic and appreciative.

Lee-Roche’s Airbnb ad mentions that the property “serves as a boarding house, party venue, magic school, and old timey mercantile.”

The space accommodates two and there is one bathroom, one bedroom and one bed. The bedroom is “inspired by both the Gryffindor common room and Harry Potter’s dorm room.”

There’s a variety of things to experience and rent in addition to the Airbnb room, including a feasting hall, a medieval magical mercantile store and multiple wizarding classes.