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'LOST LONDON', The edible cityscape revealed in Selfridges' Christmas Window

19 October 2013

 | 

4 mins

Biscuiteers don't do anything by halves.  This month we've been working on a gigantic and exciting project with famous jelly-mongers Bompas & Parr and Lyle’s Golden Syrup®; a vision of London’s lost and un-built architecture created entirely from gingerbread. The installation fills Selfridges' main Christmas window and is set to wow spectators by its sheer size and detail.
The display features a fantasy scene of sugary delights made up of now demolished London buildings such as Euston Arch, Old London Bridge, Newgate Gaol, City of London Lying-In Hospital; and never-built architecture such as Selfridges' Tower, the Glass Tower Bridge and a National Gallery Extension. It sees the ghosts of London buildings past and future arriving in Selfridges in gingerbread for Christmas.
St Antholin Church was rebuilt to the designs of Sir Christopher Wren following its destruction in the Great Fire of London in 1666 and Selfridges with a tower designed for Mr Selfridge in 1918, the structure would have been the largest in London at the time.

A duo of Biscuiteers architects carefully used detailed plans to bake and construct each panel, window, arch, dome and portico to create a total of 15 mega biscuit structures. They then had a delicate task of piecing together the individual components to create a sturdy structure, stable enough to be transported to Selfridges where the city would be given its final details such as Christmas trees and a rolling river of glossy golden syrup! Working entirely in secret the team built the city overnight in Selfridges, crowning churches with turrets, frosting the buildings with snow and adding, well...a little bit of pixie dust.
Our talented architect Serena adding the details to St Paul's impressive dome

The edible city – which took 400 hours to design, bake and build - spans a total surface area of 10 meters squared and looms 1.8m tall. It consists of 25 ingredients including 353kg of delicious Biscuiteers gingerbread, 245kgs of Icing and Royal Icing Sugars, over 80 litres of Lyle’s Golden Syrup® and 85kg of Caster Sugar. The exterior was held together using a litre of confectioners glue and decorated using 2kg of glitter.

The buildings in their decorative state before they were moved to Selfridges.

The ‘Lost London’ cityscape is being displayed in the main Christmas window, on the corner of Orchard and Oxford Street until the New Year. A celebration of Christmases past and future, the ‘Lost London’ window is set to surprise and delight Christmas shoppers this festive season. So make sure you pay us a visit whilst doing your Christmas shopping!
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