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Gingerbread houses are a common sight during the holiday season. However, not all of these festive buildings are simple homes. Some are massive creations crafted by teams using hundreds of kilograms of candies and sweets in various forms. These skilled bakers dedicate countless hours to baking and assembling their gingerbread masterpieces, yet they all agree that the happiness their works bring makes all the effort worthwhile. The ten extravagant gingerbread houses listed here are a testament to this passion.
10. US Capitol Building
In 2013, a replica of the US Capitol building was displayed at the entrance of the Pentagon's Army Executive Dining Facility. Crafted from licorice garlands, candy decorations, and accented with sugar icicles and 'snow' made of melting candy, the structure measured 1.4 meters (4.5 ft) in length, 0.9 meters (3 ft) in width, and weighed more than 23 kilograms (50 lb). It was finished off with a green-dyed lawn made from crushed cornflakes mixed with melted marshmallows, inverted ice cream cone trees, tiny window candles, and miniature wreaths made of green icing adorned with red icing bows. Candy canes were used as columns, and a Statue of Freedom, carved by Sergent Kyoungmin Park, crowned the building’s dome.
The Capitol was designed by Specialist Samantha Poe, whose family has a long history in engineering. Prior to joining the Army, Poe worked as a chef at prestigious five-star restaurants, where she developed a passion for the mathematical precision involved in designing the gingerbread structure to the correct scale and proportions. Sergent Rose Picard, a pastry chef, played a key role in assembling the gingerbread building. It took the soldiers six days to complete the project, which they worked on in addition to their regular duties. The completed Capitol impressed visiting generals, who congratulated the soldiers personally.
9. Waddesdon Manor
In 2016, a talented team from Biscuiteers, a London-based cookie boutique, dedicated a staggering 500 hours to create an elaborate gingerbread replica of Waddesdon Manor, a French Renaissance-style chateau located in Buckinghamshire. The gingerbread model included intricate cutaway sections that revealed several rooms, all crafted with remarkable attention to detail.
The pink guest bedroom was carefully decorated with a chest, vanity, and a canopy bed. The walls were paneled and adorned with delicately carved molding and baseboards. Additional touches included paintings, parrot figurines, lamps, a mirror, curtains, and a richly detailed rug.
The billiard room featured a classic billiards table, a red love seat with pillows, triangular windows with green panes, embossed walls, and a plush red carpet. In the dining room, a ten-person table was set, complemented by a refined rug, a plank floor, sideboards, and enhanced with decorative paintings, flower baskets, a clock, and other elegant details.
8. Town Hall Village
To bring the gingerbread village that graced the lobby of Melbourne’s Town Hall in December 2014 to life, pastry chefs Deniz Karaca and Anna Polyviou gathered Karaca’s 12-person team, along with a group of volunteers. Together, they dedicated 2,000 hours to constructing the charming miniature town. According to Karaca, the backdrop alone required 800 tiny Christmas trees.
The village showcased iconic local landmarks, including the Melbourne Town Hall, the Melbourne Cricket Hall, Luna Park, and Flemington Racecourse. Polyviou and her team also crafted a gingerbread house made of gingerbread bricks and decorated with lollipops, M&Ms, chocolate freckles, and licorice. Visitors were encouraged to donate a gold coin, with the funds raised benefiting Make-A-Wish Australia.
7. Life-Size House
Every year, Scott Tennant, the executive pastry chef at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort's Chateau LaFayette, creates unique gingerbread structures. In 2016, he, along with his team of ten and the resort's carpentry shop, collaborated to build a house large enough for adults to enter. The entire creation was edible, and some curious visitors couldn't resist trying to break off pieces, leading Tennant to discover “a fingerprint in the piping or candies missing.”
Once the carpenters completed the house’s base, Tennant and his team took over. After their regular work hours, they spent 600 extra hours at night to construct the house. Tennant shared a few of his secrets: using a hand saw, he made notches in cookies before slicing them, which resulted in perfectly sized discs to decorate the edge of the wall.
6. Two-Story House
In 2016, a magnificent 7-meter (22 ft), two-story gingerbread house was constructed on a wooden framework in the lobby of the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco. The chefs used 7,750 pieces of gingerbread and hundreds of kilograms of icing and candy. Kimberly Tighe, the hotel’s executive pastry chef, and her team rebuild the house every holiday season, reusing construction materials each year and composting the leftover edible parts.
Children often nibble on the house’s exterior, but to maintain its appearance, the chefs have repair materials like peppermint canes, gingerbread men, jelly slices, Christmas tree marshmallows, and gumdrops ready. They dedicate two four-hour sessions each day to replacing the eaten parts. The house also boasts a balcony, an electric train that travels in and out, cookie trim, a clock, gingerbread bricks, and icing mortar.
5. San Francisco Ferry Building
Angela Salvatore, the pastry chef at San Francisco’s Waterbar, is known for crafting sweet replicas of well-known landmarks, including Candlestick Park and the Palace of Fine Arts. However, in 2016, she surpassed her previous work with a stunning 1.8-meter-long (6 ft), 0.8-meter-tall (2.5 ft) gingerbread replica of the San Francisco Ferry Building. Salvatore and her team spent 130 hours bringing the grand replica to life.
On top of the gingerbread structure, cookie reindeer pull Santa’s sled across a gumpaste flag-draped rooftop, with Rudolph pausing just before the central tower. Below, a bustling farmer’s market is recreated, where vendors sell fruit (Runts), soap (Pez), and various other goods like flowers, eggs, and candy ice cream. A snowman and a Christmas tree stacked high with gifts add festive cheer. The gingerbread Ferry Building helped attract more visitors to the Waterbar.
4. Hotel Corque House
In 2016, the lobby of the Hotel Corque in Solvang, California, proudly displayed a giant gingerbread house crafted by renowned baker Bent Olsen and his assistant, Louis Rojas. This children’s playhouse-sized marvel was far from his first. According to John Martino, the hotel’s hospitality manager, Olsen has been making these festive creations since 1984. Each year, he mixes it up with different designs and colors to keep things fresh and exciting.
The gingerbread house from 2016 weighed an impressive 113 kilograms (250 lb), consisting entirely of edible ingredients. After the house was assembled, it was transported to the hotel lobby, where Olsen and Rojas added the finishing touches. It remained on display for the holiday season, with Olsen returning weekly to repair the icing icicles that children often snatched for a quick taste.
3. School
In 2016, Katie Wood, an art teacher from Kansas, presented a heartfelt Christmas gift to her workplace: a gingerbread model of Topeka High, where she teaches. She describes the school as "a kind of magical place at times," a place where she feels deeply connected with both the students and her colleagues, who she considers her second family.
The gingerbread high school measures 102 centimeters (40 inches) in length, 76 centimeters (30 inches) in height, and 51 centimeters (20 inches) in width. It's crafted from graham crackers, Tootsie Rolls, M&Ms, icing, and other ingredients. The clock tower’s rooftop is adorned with inverted ice cream cones and standing miniature Hershey’s chocolate bars.
2. The World's Largest Village
In 2014, chef Jon Lovitch recalls his kitchen and dining room being in complete disarray. He jokes that they seemed as though they had been visited by Betty Crocker on a psychedelic trip. With the goal of breaking a world record, Lovitch set out to create the world’s largest gingerbread village, inspired by the poem “A Visit from St. Nick” by Clement Clark Moore. His village, which spanned 45 square meters (480 ft), weighed 2.5 tons and was displayed on a circular platform at the New York Hall of Science. A skylight above the platform illuminated the creation, named GingerBread Lane. Independent inspectors evaluated the village and submitted their findings to Guinness.
Lovitch's dedication paid off. His village, featuring 1,102 buildings, earned him the prestigious title, marking his third such honor. The village, surrounded by pine trees, circled around the elevated walkway at the Hall of Science, protected by a transparent plexiglass screen to keep curious children at a safe distance.
1. Wrigley Field
In 2016, a gingerbread replica of Chicago’s Wrigley Field was created, measuring 1.2 meters by 1.2 meters (4 ft x 4 ft) and weighing over 180 kilograms (400 lb). Gerald Madero, along with his team, spent 70 hours constructing the piece, which challenged both his math and carpentry skills. One of the more difficult aspects of the build was shaping the walls with curves and adapting the gingerbread to fit the unique diamond shape of the baseball stadium.
Before becoming the head chef at the Forest Hills Country Club in Rockford, Illinois, Madero was a carpenter, a skill that proved invaluable in determining the angles of the stadium’s structure. The gingerbread Wrigley Field included a playing field, a massive scoreboard, seating, and was adorned with peppermints and candy canes. It also featured a jolly Santa waving from his sleigh.
