You've heard of the British nursery rhyme "London Bridge Is Falling Down." Well, now there's a house in London that is melting down, literally.



A new art installation by Alex Chinneck is made entirely of paraffin wax bricks — 8,000 of them, to be exact — with the sole purpose of melting down into a beautiful display. The exhibit is titled "A Pound of Flesh for 50P" but is also known simply as the Melting House. It's part of Merge Festival, in which artists are encouraged to draw upon the culture of Bankside, London. The Melting House actually reflects a bit of history in the area where a candle factory stood a few centuries ago.



The melting will occur over 30 days with the help of heating tools mostly used in roofing. Constructing the exhibit was no easy task — Chinneck enlisted the help of chemists, wax manufacturers and engineers over the course of 12 months to achieve visually convincing wax bricks. If you will be in jolly old England anytime soon, pop on over to see the exhibit, but hurry — the Melting House will melt away for good on Nov. 18.



Chinneck is no stranger to creating visual masterpieces in the shape of dwellings. His other projects include a sliding house and an upside-down house.



















Alex Chinneck