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Get an Eyeful of a Life-Size Gingerbread House

With 2 tons of candy, gingerbread and icing, this holiday confection will make your mouth water and your heart sing

Tiffany Carboni December 9, 2013

Houzz Contributor. I am a home design writer based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Houzz Contributor. I am a home design writer based in the San Francisco Bay Area.... More

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In any of your gingerbread-making efforts, have you ever wished you could build a life-size house? That’s exactly what the culinary and engineering teams at The Fairmont San Francisco have done. If you’re in the city’s Nob Hill area for the Christmas season, you’re invited to stop by the lobby to enjoy the amazing, aromatic, two-story architectural masterpiece for yourself.

San Francisco's Fairmont Hotel Presents a Life-Size Gingerbread House

The hotel has been presenting extravagant holiday displays for decades. This year’s 22-foot-tall, 23-foot-wide gingerbread house is a nod to the city’s famous Victorian-era architecture.

All completed house photos courtesy of Matthew Millman for The Fairmont San Francisco

San Francisco's Fairmont Hotel Presents a Life-Size Gingerbread House

The Stats and Details

The house is made of nearly 2 tons of candy, gingerbread and royal icing, all of which is edible. It breaks down to:
• 724 pounds of candy
• 1,406 pounds of gingerbread that make up the building’s 7,500 bricks
• 1,600 pounds of royal icing to hold it all together

A San Francisco Hotel Cooks Up a 2-Ton Gingerbread House

Here’s the underlying wood structure, to which all the goodies are adhered.

A San Francisco Hotel Cooks Up a 2-Ton Gingerbread House

The hotel’s culinary team spent about 600 hours scaling, mixing, baking and cooling the various pieces before the house’s construction began.

A San Francisco Hotel Cooks Up a 2-Ton Gingerbread House

The hotel’s engineering team spent about 500 hours preparing, building and decorating the house. During the building process, 118 piping bags were used and nine rubber spatulas were broken due to the laborious efforts.

San Francisco's Fairmont Hotel Presents a Life-Size Gingerbread House

You can walk through the lower level of the house to the hotel’s Laurel Court Restaurant. From the house’s pass-through, guests can enjoy views of Santa’s workshop and a model train speeding by. From the restaurant side, there’s more architecture to see as well as a different perspective of the lobby’s 23-foot-tall tree.

“While we don’t condone people eating the house, it happens,” says The Fairmont’s Melissa Farrar. “The funniest part is that much of the missing icing, candies and even bricks are at adult height. This house brings out the kid in everyone. Every day our pastry team is out there maintaining fixes, and that’s fine with us. We joke that those caught snacking on the house will be put in the nearby doghouse.”

San Francisco's Fairmont Hotel Presents a Life-Size Gingerbread House

The Doghouse

Though the gingerbread house equals the size of last year’s creation, this year there’s also an equally spectacular doghouse. It honors Gentleman Norman, author of How to Be a Man and a longtime hotel VIP — as in very important Pomeranian.

It’s made from 90 pounds of gingerbread, used to create all the bricks and bone-shaped roof tiles, plus 24 pounds of candy to decorate it all. It took the team 67 hours to mix, bake and construct the structure. Thankfully no spatulas were broken.

San Francisco's Fairmont Hotel Presents a Life-Size Gingerbread House

See It for Yourself

The giant gingerbread house will be on display through January 1, 2014, at The Fairmont hotel, 950 Mason St., San Francisco. Contributions benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society; a donation box is stationed next to the gingerbread marvels.

San Francisco's Fairmont Hotel Presents a Life-Size Gingerbread House

Come January 2, the structures will be dismantled. The inedible, structural pieces will be reused for next year, while the edible parts will be composted. “Not too many people would want to eat it by then anyway. It’ll be stale,” says Farrar.

24'' Hydrangea Berry Wreath

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Prancing Reindeer Stocking Hanger, Polished

Prancing Reindeer Stocking Hanger, Polished

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Vickerman 12" Ball Wreath, Silver

Vickerman 12" Ball Wreath, Silver

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Vickerman 12" Multi Colored Ball Wreath

Vickerman 12" Multi Colored Ball Wreath

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22.09" Washed White Wooden Tree Collar

22.09" Washed White Wooden Tree Collar

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24" Snowy Pine Wreath with Large Cones - Door

24" Snowy Pine Wreath with Large Cones - Door

$49

Comments (30)

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victoran

It makes me remember the years I made gingerbread houses with my children...especially the year we made a fabulous house...great for all to see...till I saw the thin line of ants coming up the wall...where were they going? I took the lid off the gingerbread house...and what do you suppose...MILLIONS OF ANTS INSIDE!!! Eating the gingerbread house inside out. They had been eating gingerbread for weeks very quietly!

1 Like December 15, 2013 at 9:03PM

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victoran

Every year we go to SF to see the gingerbread house at the Fairmont and have brunch. It used to be regular baking size house on a table...now it is a whole walk in house!

Like December 15, 2013 at 9:04PM

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Becky White

By the way... I found out yesterday that the Ritz Carlton on Lake Oconee still does the life-sized gingerbread houses. Check it out.

Like December 17, 2013 at 6:26AM

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