Vancouver Special Gingerbread House

In the hands of a local chocolatier, the much-maligned "Vancouver Special" could become a much-admired holiday tradition. There are many traditions that Vancouverites revel in together, among them pretending the rain doesn't really bother us and scorning the infamous Vancouver Special houses, which pepper East and South Vancouver. Inelegant and boring, it's practically a rite of passage to scoff at these suburban shoeboxes.

Vancouver Special Gingerbread House | BCBusiness

In the hands of a local chocolatier, the much-maligned “Vancouver Special” could become a much-admired holiday tradition.

There are many traditions that Vancouverites revel in together, among them pretending the rain doesn’t really bother us and scorning the infamous Vancouver Special houses, which pepper East and South Vancouver. Inelegant and boring, it’s practically a rite of passage to scoff at these suburban shoeboxes.

But this month, in the hands of chocolatier and Beta5 co-owner Adam Chandler, the humble home will be much-admired, rather than much-maligned. Chandler has handcrafted a number of limited-edition Vancouver Special gingerbread house kits. Each kit includes 11 pieces of baked gingerbread with a bag of royal icing for assembly and features a variety of tasty decorative elements, including housemade chocolate-covered pretzel railings, marzipan snowmen gatekeepers, aerated chocolate bushes and colourful pâte de fruits. 

$120, 12″ w x 12″d x 9″h Vancouver Special Gingerbread Kit, beta5chocolates.com