SF’s 25-Foot Tall Life-Size Victorian Gingerbread House Is Bigger Than Ever
For more than a century, Fairmont San Francisco has enchanted guests with holiday festivities and exuberant ambiance. This season, Fairmont’s elves were back at it once again working overtime to create a dazzling, unparalleled winter display.
On display from Thanksgiving through the New Year, the hotel transforms into one of the world’s most beloved holiday destinations, where moments are turned into cherished memories. Fairmont San Francisco’s two-story, life-sized Gingerbread House in the hotel’s grand lobby has become a must-see attraction for guests from near and far.
With thousands of bricks of real gingerbread baked by the Fairmont’s pastry team and pounds of See’s Candies, the Gingerbread House display brings out the kid in everyone. See new elements for 2023 like the model Lombard Street and cable cars that move over the Golden Gate Bridge, an impressive structure that took 5 days to build. This year’s gingerbread house is bigger than ever, standing 25 feet tall.
The Fairmont’s Gingerbread House
On view from Thanksgiving through the New Year
Open daily from 11 am – 10 pm
The Fairmont, 950 Mason St., SF
FREE and open to the public in the hotel’s lobby
Each year, the Gingerbread House takes center stage and fills the halls with its sweet aroma, but the property’s 23-foot tall Christmas tree, surrounded by a festive holiday train and seasonal decorations, in the main lobby is also impressive in its own right.
Fun Facts about the Fairmont’s Gingerbread House:
- 520 hours are spent each year building, lighting, and outfitting a life-sized Victorian gingerbread house
- 8,000 baked bricks cover the two-story structure
- The life size gingerbread house stands 25 feet high, 35 feet wide, and nearly 11 feet deep – It’s bigger than ever for 2023!
- 450 hours are spent decorating the bricks with icing and sweets
How is the Fairmont’s Gingerbread House Built?
Fairmont engineering and culinary teams begin planning the gingerbread house in July, which is also when crews begin baking 12- by 4-inch gingerbread bricks to cover the home’s wooden frame.
As the holidays draw near, builders frame the rooms, set the roof, and prepare the structure for decorations. “When it’s complete, each gingerbread brick gets placed by hand, and the pastry people pipe icing along every single grout line,” Walton says (that icing requires more than 1,000 pounds of powdered sugar and around 150 gallons of egg whites).
Teams then tackle the sweet job of outfitting the gingerbread house with candy, from Peeps to gumdrops to strands of Nerds Rope in all colors of the rainbow. There are candy canes, of course, and in past years, designers have attached individual Hershey’s Miniatures bars to the walls with icing. When it’s complete, more than 1,900 pounds of candy adorn the Fairmont’s gingerbread house.
Walton, a self-described tinkerer, also creates magical holiday accents for the house, often from everyday items. He turns industrial air filters into snow-dusted hills, and motors salvaged from office shredders and windshield wipers power reindeer rocking chairs and swirling snowflake mobiles. His hand-cut shadow puppets even star in a holiday video aired inside the house.
As any avid baker (or Great British Bake-Off viewer) will know, sometimes, there are mishaps in creating a confectionary masterpiece — one year, the lobby lights even melted the home’s chocolate-covered roof. But unexpected surprises (both planned and accidental) charm hotel guests and public visitors alike throughout the season.
After the holidays, Walton removes the interior electronics and teams tear down the structure. The framework gets recycled, and the bricks, candy, and other edible ingredients are composted. The Fairmont lobby returns to normal, but the holiday spirit lingers until the next season.
“The gingerbread house is definitely a challenge, but we’re all glad to be part of the project. To watch kids light up as they explore, and to see adults marvel at the little nuances, is all really incredible,” Walton says.
Read more at The Fairmont San Francisco.
