Berry's gingerbread house wins first place in Grove Park Inn compeition

By Rose Hooper

Eleanor Berry of Whittier constructed this prize-winning gingerbread house (above), which took first place in the Grove Park Inn's annual Gingerbread House Competition. Berry's design was inspired by this Armour-Stiner House (below) in Irvington, N.Y., which was built in 1860. Berry's house remains on display at Grove Park through Saturday, Dec. 16.

This eighth annual competition drew 170 entries from eight states in three categories - adult, youth ages 11 through 15, and youth ages 10 and under.

The gingerbread houses are currently on display at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, but on Saturday, Dec. 16, the winners will head to New York to be featured on "Good Morning, America."The houses will return Saturday, Dec. 23, to remain on display through Dec. 30.

Berry, who has competed for three years, said she felt her house's unusual dome top especially attracted the judges.

"I wanted to do something really different and something Victorian, so I went on the Internet and found this octagon-shaped house, the Armour-Stiner House in Irvington, N.Y., built in 1860. That dome on the top challenged me and was not done as easily as I first imagined,"said Berry.

First she built a baking pan out of flashing in the shape of the dome. "I put the gingerbread in the oven and thought I'd come back 20 minutes later and find a perfectly-shaped dome. Instead, I found gingerbread all over the bottom on my oven."

Then she switched to pastille - a combination of gelatin and confectionery sugar that "gets rock hard."This time Berry created her mold from manila folders.

Also from the pastille she designed figures enjoying a Victorian party.

"I discovered you can even file the pastille after it gets hard, so I could create lots of detail,"said Berry, who left the back of the house open so the judges could see what was going on at each level. For instance, one level features food on a marble top table and a baby grand piano, while on the level below maids are preparing the food.

For the roof slates, Berry used sticks of gum. Her windows are clear peppermint candies, which "fascinated the head bakery chef at the Grove Park Inn,"she said.

Many details on the original house could not be duplicate, Berry said. But she did such a fine job that someone who knew the house recognized it.

"I was standing near my gingerbread house when a man said to me, 'That looks like the house I jog by every morning.' I asked him where he was from, and he said, 'Irvington, N.Y.' Turns out he was referring to the Armour-Stiner house, and he was the husband of one of the judges. Small world, huh?"Berry said.

Last year Berry won fourth place and in 1998 she entered but didn't win anything.

"Carol Haney, a reporter from USA Today, interviewed me that year, and I felt quite honored,"she said. "The house, which was actually a grist mill, was also featured in the book 'Making Great Gingerbread Houses.' All that was better than winning, I thought. That is, until I won this year!"

Attending the workshop on gingerbread houses given by the Grove Park Inn at the first of November helped give her an edge, Berry said.

"There they told us the judges were looking for gingerbread, of course, but also attention to detail, carrying out the theme and creativity,"she said.

Berry stayed up until 3 a.m. the day of competition, working on last minute details. She mounted the 35-pound house on a piece of 24-foot by 24-foot plywood and held onto it all the while her husband, Frank, drove "very carefully"to Asheville.

Since she constructed her winning gingerbread house, Berry has made two more gingerbread houses ­ on a much simpler scale ­ for her grandchildren.

"Right now, I don't want to see any more gingerbread for a while,"Berry said.

Back to Archive: 11/30/00.