Thursday, January 6, 2011

World's Biggest Houses

World's Biggest Ginger Bread House
 No doubt about it, 67 feet!
In late 2006, the world’s largest gingerbread house was built at where else?—the Mall of America, the 2nd largest mall in the United States!! Just how large is this “house”? Try 1,496 square feet for size! I’ve lived in apartments smaller than that! It took 1,700 hours to build this 67-foot sweeeeet house.

Constructed with:
  • 14,250 pounds of gingerbread and 4,750 pounds of icing
  • 1,800 Hershey’s chocolate bars
  • 2,800 Pearson’s Nut Rolls
  • 1,200 feet of Twizzlers
  • 100 pounds of large-sized Tootsie Rolls
  • 300 pounds of Dots
  • 100 12″ Whirly Pops
  • 100 pounds each of Brach’s Star Brites Mix, Holiday Mix, Crimp Ribbon, Christmas Spicettes and Christmas Nougats; and thousands of candy canes from Farley & Sathers
World's Biggest Ginger Bread House
                                                                    
The world’s biggest house is Windsor Castle, located in England, Berkshire, with a surface of around 484,000 square feet (about 45,000 square meters).

Having its structure changed over the centuries, the castle now occupies 13 acres of land, having 1,000 rooms. Along with Buckingham Palace in London and Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh, Windsor Castle is one of the principal official residences of the British monarch. The resident is Queen Elizabeth II that made the castle her home beginning with 1952.

I recently found out that the biggest house in the world is Windsor Castle, located in England, Berkshire.
The castle’s floor area is approximately 484,000 square feet (about 45,000 square metres).

The castle, after centuries of alterations, contains about 1,000 rooms and occupies 13 acres of land.

Who would have guessed? I’ve visited the amazing building a few times on school trips when I was younger.

I evidently didn’t pay any attention to the tour guide - but who does at that age? School trips were always about having a reason to escape the school grounds for the day and being able express ourselves in our hip, baggy clothes. That’s probably why I didn’t realise castles were considered as “houses”. I just thought castles were castles and houses were houses. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

The actual definition of “house” is as follows: House: a building in which people live; residence for human beings. People live in castles, so it looks like a castle, by definition, is a “house”, and in that case, Windsor Castle is one mother of a house.

Together with Buckingham Palace in London and Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh, Windsor Castle is one of the principal official residences of the British monarch.
Most of the Kings and Queens of England have had a direct influence on the construction and evolution of the castle, which has been their garrison fortress, home, official palace, and sometimes their prison. The castle’s history and that of the British monarchy are inextricably linked. Its rich history spans almost 1000 years.