25 Bizarre Buildings in photos:
1. The Basket House USA
2. The Crooked House Poland
3. The Castle House Dominican Republic
4. The Dog House USA
5. The Egyptian House USA
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6. The WTF House USA
7. The Hovercraft House USA
8. The Kettle House USA
9. The UFO House USA
10. The Saxophone House USA
11. The Ship House Croatia
12. The Boot House USA
13. Another Shoe House South Africa
14. Another UFO House USA
15. The Sphere House USA
16. The Thin House UK
17. The Lopsided House Japan 18. Another Dome House Australia 19. The Log House Russia 20. Palacio de las Artes Spain 21. The Mushroom House USA 22. The Bubble House France 23. The Robot Ranch USA 24. The Crazy House Vietnam 25. The Holed House USA
I can’t even imagine how anyone would live in the thin house. I would love to see pics from inside.
Juggz: Standing up I suspect
those are cool, i read somewhere there was a lady who bought the fuselage of a crashed 747 and converted that into an odd house
what about the hundertwasserhaus in Vienna – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundertwasserhaus
ben: that is so weird. I would love to see pics.
sean: brilliant – good addition – thanks.
HGTV (Home and Garden Magazine’s TV channel) has a show called ‘What’s with that house?’ that has showcased a few of these. interviews w/ the owners. tour of the interiors. its a way cool show.
Cyn: I haven’t seen it – I love that sort of stuff!
HGTV: What’s with that house?
if ya get a chance check out the website. there might be an international version. or actually there have been some international episodes…not sure if there is an international TV syndication though. its a 30 min show. cute, cute host. LOL and really entertaining. the reasoning some people have for building these houses…amazing!
Another one from Poland:
http://freshome.com/2007/09/08/amazing-upside-down-house/
Only thing this list could have used would maybe have been something by Gaudi, like the Casa Mila or his unfinished cathedral. British artist Roger Dean has also done some interesting architecture; he’s the man responsible for all that intriguingly vivid cover art for Yes in the 70s. But overall, another terrific list, JF.
Niki de Saint Phalle spent most of her later life designing her incredible house and garden in Tuscany, more to be found here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/45421344@N00/sets/72157594207758953/
and on her site here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/45421344@N00/sets/72157594207758953/
Also, speaking of Vienna, Erwin Wurm essentially let a House drop on the Museum of Modern art, pics to be found here
http://images.google.com/images?client=safari&rls=en&q=house+attack+erwin+wurm&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&um=1&sa=N&tab=wi
Oi!
What about the Winchester Mystery House???
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winchester_Mystery_House
The last one is “The Vortex”. I live in Houston about 2 blocks from where it was. It was an old art school building and was going to be torn down to build a new one. Two artists built the tunnel over the course of a couple weeks from the inside out. The picture doesn’t do it justice. It was really, really cool. It was there for about 6 months before they finally tore it down to build the new building.
We were all pretty bummed.
Cyn: great – thanks!
Kancgab: okay – that is one of the coolest houses I have seen! Thanks for the link.
Martin L: to be honest I am not familiar with his work – I will look him up tomorrow – thanks.
batesman: brilliant stuff – thanks for the links. The first one could almost be on the top 20 optical illusions!
Joe skepsis: I really wanted to put the Winchest house on (it appears on one of the other lists- do a search for it) – but outside it doesn’t appear abnormal – inside it is probably the number 1 weirdest house.
Yarr: did you crawl through the tunnel?
the “hovercraft house” is in albuquerque, new mexico and is the home of architect bart prince, who has designed many similar homes, including that of playmate barbie benton. his looks more like a centipede than a hovercraft, really, and the interior is entirely covered with carpet, which deadens echoes almost completely. i would definitely recommend trying to find some better pictures of that house; the one there doesnt really do it justice.
Actually, the “Basket House” isn’t a house at all, but the corporate headquarters for Longabarger Baskets. It’s about an hour’s drive from here.
I agree on adding the Winchester Mystery House. Nice collection.
Could a bed even fit in the thin house?
Yeah, I went through it a few times.
Hey you might want to check out the Barn House, in Indiana. I grew up near there, you could get tours for like $2 or something if I remember right.
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/attract/INBOWbarn.html
Actually #11. “The Ship House, USA” is not located in the USA, but in Dalmatian part of the Croatia, close to the mid coast. I cannot exactly remember the name of the village but it is around 50km NEE from Split on the road to Imotski. I have passed by it a couple of times and it’s hard to miss it. Unfortunately, the building is deteriorating. Try to copy the picture to the desktop and you would see it for yourself.
Thanks Rated RR – corrected.
How about the “Sleeper” house in Denver? Was featured in Woody Allen’s film, “Sleeper”. It is on the market for only $10 million if anyone is interested!
http://www.forbes.com/2002/09/09/0909how.html
Morphy: that is a great looking house! If I had 10 million spare I would consider it
I want that Russian log house. I could hang with Rasputin. You know if he was so hard to kill that he could come back to life too.
*blinks* Do you think these houses should be lived in or avoided by drug users? Haha.
Kelsi: in most cases I think they were designed by drug users
Both #4 (Dog House or Dome Home) and #9 (UFO House) are located on Pensacola Beach in FL. The Dome Home was built to withstand the devastating hurricanes that plague the region, and was one of the few structures left standing on the beach after Hurricane Ivan in 2004.
The UFO house is one of several modular homes built in the US by Futuro in the late 60′s/early 70′s. Unfortunately, the design never really took off.
(sorry, couldn’t resist)
I saw pictures of a house one time that had been designed to be an exact replica of the Simpson’s house, right the cartoony colors.
Hey JFrater,
Just thought I would let you know that Ebaumsworld just stole this list and used it as a gallery. They are notorious for doing that.
MojoRisin: Thanks for letting me know. Considering the amount of traffic I get from them through the daily dump, I don’t mind too much
yea i was just going to complain about that. really grinds my gears them stealing from such an honest, down to earth site like this
Fantastic list. Here is a TOILET shaped building.
http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSSEO13684020071009
Lydia: hilarious!
That’s it. I’m moving to Poland. First I will visit the upside down house, and I want to live in the crooked house.
any idea where the sphere house is from? i think it may be near my home town, but I wanted to make sure.
desmonda: I am not actually sure to be honest
i’ve seen the thin house (i live in the uk)! YAY! an achievement!
wow, without this website i would never be able to have an idea of these building, especialy the thin one …….wow …….
these are the kind of houses that little kids create in there imagination and fantasies and the fact tht people actually cr4eated these are amazing. Its something that every person will stop to look at when they see it and that is every architects goal
Im with you on that one barb….I want to live in the crooked house too! Its soo funky!
Regarding #17 The Lopsided House—I *think* it is actually an Asian Restaurant in Niagara Falls on the Canadian side. It is off on a side street near some cheap motels. If not, it is an exact copy. My young daughter commented on the pink roof and it being sideways when we were there a few years ago.
The WTF House (#6) is located in Cincinnati, Ohio, about five miles from my own home, in a quite upscale part of town. Every year or so, right on cue, there’s a newspaper story about how much the well-to-do neighbors hate it, complete with mocking comments from the builder/owner . . .
#1 isn’t a house, it’s an office building for a basket manufacturer (Longaberger) in Newark, Ohio.
The Malibu Castle would have been a good addition. Unfortunately it burned down during the last wildfire in November 2007. There’s even a video on youtube of it burning…very sad.
i love this list! people out there r so creative.my favorite is the dog house
The WTF House is near where I live. Haha.
I think an architect lives there, and that part of the house is his studio.
the county building where i’m from is pretty stupid looking. not as amazing as some of these houses, but it still makes you think “huh. would you look at that.” it’s always used as a point of reference when giving someone directions “yeah make a left after the county building, you know the ugly place.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_County_Government_Center
#18 is by far the coolest house ever!
I believe the basket house is actually the headquarters for the Longerberger Basket Company in the state of Ohio.
[Katie was so correct I guess I repeated it!]
I like the WonderWorks building in Orlando, Florida
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/5/10467624_b44a5d1024.jpg
Jazzy Jeff: That is a cool building and lots of fun stuff to do inside as well. I’m going to Orlando this weekend actually, I might have to go again!
I want to live in the castle house!
No. 25: I divided by Zero!
The thin house isnt a real house, its just a facade in London to hide part of the subway network that appears over ground. The locals wanted it built to maintain the order of the other houses.
what about the heidelberg houses in detroit?
These houses are freakin awesome. although i’ve seen better. try the houses in el paso. the houses are all disfigured, but not cuz they were built like that. that’s just el paso.
Damn, these are great.
Cool pictures.
Ever see the “toilet house” located in South Korea?
http://freshome.com/2007/10/11/toilet-shaped-house/
Is The Thin House real?