Friends

Friendship Tree House

The set that quietly turned Friends into something grown-up builders take seriously.

Brick Rated Score

4.3/5

Set 41703 · 2022

Pieces1,114

Minifigs4

Year2022

Set number41703

Check price on Amazon

Affiliate link. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

The verdict

This one won me over slowly, and then completely.

It looks like a kids' set on the box, but the gear-driven elevator and the two-tree structure give you a build that holds an adult's attention for a solid few hours. The accessibility features aren't a gimmick either, they're baked into the design in a way that feels honest. If you love a playful architecture build with real functions, this is an easy yes.

Best for: builders who want a playful, function-packed architecture build that kids can actually play with afterward

The full review

What it is

The Friendship Tree House is a LEGO® set that marked the tenth anniversary of the Friends theme, and honestly it feels like the moment the line grew up a little. You get a two-tree structure connected by a walkway, kitted out with a kitchen, a working elevator, a little bathroom, a market stall, a telescope, and a beehive, all spread across a footprint that's bigger than the 1,114-piece count would ever suggest. It's the kind of set where every time you think you've found all the features, there's one more tucked around the back. The thing that got me was how much of it actually moves and works. This isn't a static dollhouse. You spin the wind turbine and the elevator rises, you swing the carpentry vice, you play on the slide. It's a build with things to do.

The catch

The honest part is that a 1,114-piece count here doesn't translate into a dense, brick-heavy build the way it might in, say, a Creator set. A fair number of those pieces are small foliage, leaves, and greenery scattered across the two trees, so the structure feels airy rather than solid. The back is largely open too, which is great for little hands reaching in to play but means it never quite reads as a finished display piece from every angle. And there's the price situation. It launched at 79.99, retired at the end of 2023, and has since drifted upward on the aftermarket, so you're likely looking at closer to 90 or 100 now depending on the day. That's still fair for what you get, but it's no longer the bargain it was on shelves.

Who it's for

So who should grab this. If you like playful, feature-dense architecture builds and you don't need everything to be a pristine sealed display model, you'll get a lot of joy here. It's also a lovely one to build alongside a kid, because the play value genuinely lasts once it's done. The accessibility details, the wheelchair, the ramp, the lift, all feel considered rather than tacked on, and that thoughtfulness runs through the whole thing. The people I'd steer away are pure display collectors who want a solid, closed-back model, and anyone chasing raw piece-count value per dollar. For everyone else, this is one of the strongest Friends sets of its era, and it holds up beautifully.

The parts story

What the build is actually like, and the pieces worth knowing about.

Building it runs a little over two to three hours and it's paced nicely. You start with the base and the two tree trunks, which go up faster than you'd expect, and then the fun begins with the gear system for the elevator. That mechanism is the standout section, a proper little Technic-adjacent gear train where the wind turbine drives the lift, and it's the bit that makes adult builders sit up. From there you're layering in the rooms, the kitchen, the bathroom, the market stall, and finishing with all the greenery and the fiddly foliage that dresses the trees. The leaf sections are the slow, repetitive stretch, but they're the price of that lush finished look.

On the parts front there's real interest for collectors. The set introduced three new molds: a butterfly element in yellowish orange and cool yellow, a silver metallic cutlery fork in its first solo outing, and a cupcake in aqua. You also get useful recolors like a spindled fence in medium nougat, a 1x2x1 panel in bright orange, and white half-round bricks. Hunters will notice a magenta curved slide that had only appeared in a couple of sets back in 2013, and a bright yellow Technic beam that was nearly exclusive at the time. The printed beekeeping helmet with its mesh honeycomb screen and the rare bee tile round out a parts selection that punches above a typical Friends set.

Fun facts

01Jackson in this set is the first LEGO mini-doll ever to use a wheelchair, and the tree house is built around genuine accessibility with a ramp and a working lift.
02This is the first time LEGO gave mini-dolls a second head for a swappable facial expression, so Mia can switch between happy and mischievous and River between happy and frightened.
03The set was released to mark the tenth anniversary of the LEGO Friends theme, which first launched in 2012.
04The wheelchair lift is powered in-story by the spinnable wind turbine on the roof, which the build treats as the energy source for the lift and kitchen appliances.