The world’s largest gingerbread house is turning tons of sweetness into thousands of dollars in charitable goodness in Texas.
Proving the saying that everything is bigger in Texas, the Texas A&M Traditions Club enlisted the help of the community of Bryan to set a Guinness World Record for the largest gingerbread house on Nov. 30. The tasty construction project is now being used as a tourist attraction to raise money to fund a new facility to for the trauma program at nearby St. Joseph Health System.
Guinness World Records has verified that the 39,201.8-cubic-foot structure on the grounds of the Traditions Club that was unveiled last week has surpassed the previous record of 36,660 cubic feet set at the Mall of America in Minnesota in 2006.
“I’m both a Food Network junkie and a Google guy, and twelve to fourteen months ago I saw something about gingerbread houses, and it spurred me to find out what the largest one ever built was,’’ Bill Horton, the general manager of the Traditions Club, told TODAY.com. “In June, I was at a luncheon with St. Joseph’s Hospital, and I got this crazy idea to build the world’s largest gingerbread house and combine it with their drive to build a center for their trauma program, and they bit.”
A local home builder and architect created the design, and Horton said almost all of the materials, from lumber to butter, have been donated. The structure also needed to get the proper permits and approval by the fire department from the city of Bryan.
WHAT’S THE MASSIVE GINGERBREAD HOUSE MADE OF?
Butter: 1,800 pounds
Eggs: 7,200
Flour: 7,200 pounds
Brown Sugar: 3,000 pounds
Candy: 22,304 pieces
Total Calories: 36 Million
“Basically it has everything but indoor plumbing,’’ Horton said. “It was a lot of fun and had a lot of challenges.”
The entire exterior is made of gingerbread and icing, which was required in order to set the Guinness World Record. The house is 60 feet by 42 feet and 20.11 feet tall at its highest point.
“Being in Texas, we had some challenges building outdoors,’’ Horton said. “We had some high humidity and had to reduce the amount of butter we used to make it harden up. Now we’re facing a big winter storm, and I’ve tossed and turned all night about how to cover it. We acquired a 6,500-square-foot tarp, and putting that on to cover it should be a challenge in itself.”
In less than a week, the house has raised more than $150,000 for the St. Joseph Level II Trauma Center, Horton said. The house has attracted about 600 visitors a night, with some writing large checks to donate to the trauma center.
The gingerbread home is open from Tuesdays through Sundays from 6 to 10 p.m. and will remain open until Dec. 14. Admission is $3 for adults and $2 for children.
World’s biggest gingerbread house still open for you
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