Subscribe to Listverse25 Bizarre Buildings
- Published October 7, 2007 - 94 Comments
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
Just paying the bills...
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
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October 7th, 2007 at 7:51 am
I can’t even imagine how anyone would live in the thin house. I would love to see pics from inside.
October 7th, 2007 at 8:12 am
Juggz: Standing up I suspect
October 7th, 2007 at 8:41 am
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
October 7th, 2007 at 9:37 am
what about the hundertwasserhaus in Vienna – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundertwasserhaus
October 7th, 2007 at 9:46 am
ben: that is so weird. I would love to see pics.
sean: brilliant – good addition – thanks.
October 7th, 2007 at 9:47 am
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.
October 7th, 2007 at 9:51 am
Cyn: I haven’t seen it – I love that sort of stuff!
October 7th, 2007 at 10:04 am
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!
October 7th, 2007 at 10:15 am
Another one from Poland:
http://freshome.com/2007/09/08/amazing-upside-down-house/
October 7th, 2007 at 10:45 am
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.
October 7th, 2007 at 11:20 am
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
October 7th, 2007 at 11:31 am
Oi!
What about the Winchester Mystery House???
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winchester_Mystery_House
October 7th, 2007 at 11:40 am
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.
October 7th, 2007 at 12:04 pm
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?
October 7th, 2007 at 2:05 pm
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.
October 7th, 2007 at 5:30 pm
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.
October 7th, 2007 at 5:51 pm
I agree on adding the Winchester Mystery House. Nice collection.
Could a bed even fit in the thin house?
October 7th, 2007 at 6:18 pm
Yeah, I went through it a few times.
October 7th, 2007 at 6:32 pm
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
October 8th, 2007 at 1:21 am
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.
October 8th, 2007 at 2:14 am
Thanks Rated RR – corrected.
October 8th, 2007 at 5:53 am
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
October 8th, 2007 at 6:15 am
Morphy: that is a great looking house! If I had 10 million spare I would consider it
October 8th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
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.
October 8th, 2007 at 3:18 pm
*blinks* Do you think these houses should be lived in or avoided by drug users? Haha.
October 8th, 2007 at 10:25 pm
Kelsi: in most cases I think they were designed by drug users
October 9th, 2007 at 10:24 am
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)
October 9th, 2007 at 7:07 pm
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.
October 10th, 2007 at 2:38 am
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.
October 10th, 2007 at 2:48 am
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
October 10th, 2007 at 4:13 pm
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
October 11th, 2007 at 12:08 pm
Fantastic list. Here is a TOILET shaped building.
http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSSEO13684020071009
October 11th, 2007 at 12:09 pm
Lydia: hilarious!
October 12th, 2007 at 8:27 pm
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.
October 19th, 2007 at 12:22 am
any idea where the sphere house is from? i think it may be near my home town, but I wanted to make sure.
October 19th, 2007 at 12:41 am
desmonda: I am not actually sure to be honest
October 23rd, 2007 at 3:56 pm
i’ve seen the thin house (i live in the uk)! YAY! an achievement!
November 3rd, 2007 at 6:50 am
wow, without this website i would never be able to have an idea of these building, especialy the thin one …….wow …….
December 4th, 2007 at 4:34 pm
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
December 16th, 2007 at 10:45 am
Im with you on that one barb….I want to live in the crooked house too! Its soo funky!
December 19th, 2007 at 7:57 am
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.
December 19th, 2007 at 8:22 am
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 . . .
December 26th, 2007 at 9:09 pm
#1 isn’t a house, it’s an office building for a basket manufacturer (Longaberger) in Newark, Ohio.
January 5th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
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.
January 11th, 2008 at 5:09 am
i love this list! people out there r so creative.my favorite is the dog house
January 15th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
The WTF House is near where I live. Haha.
I think an architect lives there, and that part of the house is his studio.
January 16th, 2008 at 9:48 am
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
January 17th, 2008 at 6:38 am
#18 is by far the coolest house ever!
January 17th, 2008 at 10:43 am
I believe the basket house is actually the headquarters for the Longerberger Basket Company in the state of Ohio.
January 17th, 2008 at 10:45 am
[Katie was so correct I guess I repeated it!]
January 22nd, 2008 at 4:49 pm
I like the WonderWorks building in Orlando, Florida
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/5/10467624_b44a5d1024.jpg
January 22nd, 2008 at 5:24 pm
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!
January 30th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
I want to live in the castle house!
January 31st, 2008 at 2:33 pm
No. 25: I divided by Zero!
February 8th, 2008 at 8:44 am
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.
March 19th, 2008 at 9:45 pm
what about the heidelberg houses in detroit?
April 16th, 2008 at 9:24 am
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.
May 11th, 2008 at 7:30 am
Damn, these are great.
May 18th, 2008 at 1:47 am
Cool pictures.
Ever see the “toilet house” located in South Korea?
http://freshome.com/2007/10/11/toilet-shaped-house/
June 3rd, 2008 at 8:38 am
Is The Thin House real?
June 10th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Kate and Phineus:
Good call on the Longaberger “house” not being a house at all. It’s a very cool building though. My wife is a bit of Longaberger afficionado, so I am more familiar with the specifics of that company than I would really like to be.
June 11th, 2008 at 1:07 am
These are really awesome.I really liked the top two the most.
July 10th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
Is this list only homes, or is it just buildings? Cuz if its just buildings in general, I like Lucy The Elephant of Margate, New Jersey should be up there. Its a building that used to be a summer home in the early 1900s, and it’s shaped like an elephant. I’ve been there and it’s very cool.
July 10th, 2008 at 7:22 pm
*I meant “think” not “like”
July 17th, 2008 at 11:52 pm
I want the bubble house :]
July 30th, 2008 at 7:19 pm
notice how most of these houses are in the US, and its amazing how many commenters liv “down the road from them” stupid americans.
August 13th, 2008 at 10:49 am
The “dog house” (#4) and the first ufo house (#9) are both on Pensacola Beach, FL near where I live. The “dog house” is actually called the Dome Home. They rent it out to tourists mostly I think.
August 24th, 2008 at 4:24 am
Where in London is the thin house/facade? I recall seeing it while I lived there early this year.
August 24th, 2008 at 4:39 am
Well, I looked it up and there is one near Spitalfields, which would have been where I saw it, but it may or may not be the same building as shown on this site.
August 29th, 2008 at 12:30 am
Drove past the shoe house in South Africa once… it’s in the middle of nowhere…
August 31st, 2008 at 8:37 am
Number 17 is the funniest. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
September 7th, 2008 at 4:42 am
Anyone ever been to the cubehouses in Rotterdam? It’s a housing complex where all the buildings are perfect cubes, but they’re balanced on a corner. Some guy owns 2 of them so he opens one to the public. It’s so weird walking around inside you feel like you’re going to fall over the whole time. I’d hate to be drunk and in one of those houses!I also went to the home of now (sadly) deceased Spanish artist Cesare Manrique on the island of Lanzarote. The house is built underground in some lava bubbles it’s so cool.
September 25th, 2008 at 9:19 am
I’d live in any of these.
October 2nd, 2008 at 12:02 pm
I tried looking up a few of these online and I can’t find anything except THIS site. I’d love to know more about htese places. Can anyone direct me?
October 21st, 2008 at 3:26 am
Wow
I want to live in these places
November 1st, 2008 at 3:58 pm
I want to live in one of those! But not the thin one and not the UFO one that looked small compared to the cars.
December 14th, 2008 at 7:47 pm
the ufo house is in pensacola, florida-
my mom was born there
and when we visited earlier this year,
that was one of her most vivid memories
February 4th, 2009 at 6:24 am
the thin house is a set from harry potter.
February 10th, 2009 at 1:01 am
I am sure enough that none of you have seen “Esplanade Theatres on the bay.”
February 11th, 2009 at 11:48 am
I actually live not too far from the Egyptian House. Well not super close, but I’ve passed it many times on my way to Illinois. It’s weird to actually see it on a list. But a lot of these houses I would love to see the inside of.
February 20th, 2009 at 4:41 pm
I’d love to live in number 2
February 25th, 2009 at 10:45 pm
I thought I lived in number 24. But I’m sure it doesn’t look like that…
March 23rd, 2009 at 8:42 am
#78 Rob – i think Nathan #55 is correct, the house might have been used in the HP movies but im sure it wasnt built for that purpose
June 11th, 2009 at 11:02 am
If you have ever been to Japan the thin house would not even make this list, there are hundreds of houses like that in Japan.
Here is a site with pictures of 20 of them: http://www.bouncingredball.com/2008/12/10/20-really-thin-buildings-and-houses-in-japan/
June 18th, 2009 at 5:27 pm
There is this neat house made totally out of glass products like glass jars, its near where I live in Creston B.C. Canada. You should look it up
August 5th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
fuck you ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!
August 29th, 2009 at 9:32 pm
the ship houseis not rather, um, bizzare. We’ve got many here in the phil.
September 2nd, 2009 at 10:00 am
@saber: I agree.not to mention houses modeled from a tree, the elephant house and a house in a tree.
September 18th, 2009 at 5:52 am
11th is Mirko Jelin, boat house which used to be a restaurant years ago. It’s located in Cista Provo (Croatia).
September 24th, 2009 at 10:02 am
I live in Pensacola and my friends and I commonly refer to #4 as the Vagina House. I was so excited to see that and #9 on the list. Every time someone comes to visit I’m like YOU GOTTA SEE THIS!
September 29th, 2009 at 10:38 pm
I was surprised to see even stranger buildings than the Longaberger basket. Nice collection of strange buildings!
I live in Newark, Ohio and I’ve been inside The Basket a few times. An incredible amount of fine materials were used to decorate the interior and there is a huge skylight section in the roof.
Longaberger’s fame and fortune in the home decorating world and so is the building. The handles are rusting and I’m sad to say it could turn into an eyesore in years to come.
Many pilots have expressed interest in flying through the handles, but none have done it yet.
October 10th, 2009 at 8:50 am
Ok so the the thin house i can explain, It has been featured on a few shows on the BBC over the years.
There are actually quite a few of these around london, but they are generally mid terraced, so you don’t notice them.
The “House” is actually a facade. If you could open the front door behind it you would find a big hole leading into the london underground rail system. When it was originally built they had vent shafts along the lines, and since a giant hole in the ground is pretty unsightly at the best of times and quite dangerous to leave lying around at others, they hid them in with the rest of the houses. In whichever street the hole would come out in, they built a matching housefront or something inkeeping with the architecture of the time.
For an example Park Crescent (NW1) has an elegant pavilion concealing a ventilation Shaft. If you check out some of the tourist guides to london you should get more examples, or the London underground website.