Helsinki Gingerbread Architecture

Gingerbread replica of a three-storey apartment house named 'Sanitas', featuring intricate details and a pointed roof.

This year’s gingerbread house is a (slightly diminished) beautiful three storey apartment house in the corner of one of the most photographed streets of Helsinki, Huvilakatu. Built in 1905 it also served as a private hospital, hence the name ‘Sanitas’. Last year it was covered up in scaffolding and reappeared all the more illustrious. Many fine old buildings in our neighbourhood have been renovated and restored to their full splendour. It’s been such a joy to see!

The plasterer of the gingerbread tower didn’t do a very good job though! Balancing to get the right consistency for the icing on the curved surface was tricky. Another bad mistake was to use fructose for the windows since I didn’t have isomaltose at hand. The windows didn’t want to dry at all. They kept sticking to the parchment paper causing blurry panes with holes 😟 The windows of the tower dried properly though and look quite pretty.

The details of the house really appeal to me. The facades are adorned with beautiful reliefs of an owl sitting under the trees in the sunset. A row of trees festoons the molding at the top of the walls. Rain gutters and window ledges gleam in shining copper. And the best part is the grinning face of some fantasy creature that has reappeared, after decades, under the tower 😁