gingerbread houseWhat's two stories tall, 16 feet wide, and takes 460 hours to build?

That would be the ginormous gingerbread house in the lobby of the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco.

The place is actually built to code, so every one of the three entrances (front, back, and side) is more than big enough for everyone but Yao Ming to enter through without so much as a knee bend.

Every year the Fairmont does some sort of gingerbread house, and every year it's gotten bigger and bigger. But this time they've outdone themselves. Waaay outdone themselves.

gingerbread houseThe house is 19 feet tall, 16 feet wide, and 8 feet deep. Oh, and there's the chimney, which adds another 4 feet to the height. Naturally, it smokes.

Check out what makes up this magical creation:

  • 4,000 pieces of gingerbread, in bricks
  • 550 pounds of icing, for mortar and decoration
  • 200 pounds of candy
  • 8 gallons of chocolate

Crazy, isn't it?

The roof is covered in chocolate shingles and doorways are lined with -- what else? -- candy canes.

There is even a portico modeled after the hotel's own entrance!

And, as if that wasn't cool enough, you have to walk through the house to get to the hotel restaurant.

There's an electric train running on 20 feet of track, but most magical of all is the room inside where every Who down in Whoville can go to write a letter to Santa.

 

Images via SFGate