Take a peek at some of the places we humans call home. We’ve got the quirky, the impressive, and a sampling of the vast cultural variety of abodes. And of course there are the houses where the attraction is location, location, location. Unusual and enticing dwellings for everyone’s taste. Don’t miss the house that twirls around.
Cottage, Norway
Flat in London.
Fire lookout in the Cascade Mountains of Washington state, USA
Home of Ruth Handler, creator of the Barbie Doll.
Edinburgh, Scotland
‘The Canopy’ Tower, Hong Kong. Note the floors are a spiral.
This three bedroom home seems pretty standard (for an octagonal-shaped house.) BUT it is built on a rotating platform that is powered by two motors about the same size as those found in a washing machine. One revolution can be completed in as little as thirty minutes or as long as two hours, depending on the set speed and this unique feature ensures the homeowners a sensational view no matter what room they are in.
Hobbit House, Wales
Park Güell designed by Antoni Gaudi, Barcelona, Spain. Image by Ken Kaminesky.
Port Washington, Oregon, USA
Switzerland
Krzywy Domek (Crooked House) in Sopot, Poland
Iceland
Japan
Rock Village Monsanto in Portugal
Portugal
The Drina River near the town of Bajina Basta, Serbia
Norfolk, England
Norway
Barn in Lexington, Kentucky, USA by yiminghu.
Russian countryside dwelling
Seashell House, Isla Mujeres, Mexico
A rubble stone lime mortar thatched cottage in Blaise Hamlet near Bristol, England
House of recycled windows made for $500, West Virginia, USA
House in Denmark made with old construction techniques, including seaweed cladding. Image, Helene Hoyer Mikkelsen and Realdania BYG
Seaweed bungalows are indigenous architecture in Rongcheng, China
More seaweed
More seaweed houses, Shandong province, China
Mud House Design in Cameroon
Earthern home
An earthen building in Burkina Faso
Earthern mud mosque in Northern Ghana
Dogon cliff village, Bandiagara Escarpment, Mali. Photo credit Victor Engelbert.
Meeting house and resting place for Dogon men, Mali
A Turkana home in the Northwestern part of Kenya
Toraja, South Sulawesi, Jakarta, Indonesia
Traditional house in Fugnido, Ethiopia
Tribes in Bolivia use sticks and plants filled in with mud, but unlike the Bolivian houses in the valleys and highlands, roofs are made of interwoven and layered dried palm fronds
Taberma Tata, Togo; photo by Deidi van Schaewe
Village houses and compound Mognori Village Community, Northern Ghana showing vernacular architecture with patterned mud walls
Typical houses on stilts lining the main street of Lilisiana, Solomon Islands
Leaf house in Solomon Islands
Uru homes are made using “totora” reeds that grow along the shores of Lake Titicaca, Bolivia
Venezuela
Maori meeting house, New Zealand
Pakistan
Ndebele House, South Africa
Dome Rondavels ~ Serengeti National Park, Tanzania, Africa.
Underground home in Switzerland constructed of concrete, oak doors and features an outdoor terrace complete with a spa, barbecue, dining area and a stunning view of the Alps. The front entrance is used when receiving company, while an underground tunnel provides family members access to the barn from the rear.
Maine cabin
by Camille Lacheré
Vermont, USA
Telemark, Norway
For more unusual housing go here.
Thanks to: From Moon to Moon. And to Melanie.
OMG!!! fabulous!!
Some of these homes are the most beautiful and adorable I have ever seen.
Thank you so much for sharing.
So unique & innovative , not to mention beautiful
Fabulous accumulation of beautiful and unusual domains around “our” world..
I so look forward to these beautiful and unusual photos. Imagination truly has no limits.
What a fantastic collection of homes. Wow!
So lovely and such a gift! I thank you for stretching our imaginations. I so wish you knew the locations of ALL the houses.
This is really humbling.
Beautiful locations, excellent surroundings.
Man is a social animal and needs interaction with fellow human beings. These locations though very scenic are totally cut off, good for second home and where one stays for a limited period to get rejuvenated and back to society.
Homes built by the indigenous people merge with the nature so well they are balm to the eyes but hope they also deserve modern sanitation and drinking water, healthcare nearby.
Thank you dusky for very good collection of different homes.
Extraordinary creation
Your collections speak to the photographer in me. My husband and I have lived many years in Africa and are pleased that you show indigenous housing as beautiful and intelligently conceived for local conditions and materials. Some of your homes give us ideas for an inexpensive but visually honest retirement home well-integrated into its surroundings. Always look forward to your mail.
The variety and beauty takes my breath away, not only regarding the building of these homes, but the imagination it takes to dream many of these up and then create them. And then there are the humbler ones which truly arise from the need to survive and ingenuity.
WOW!
Kathleen,
I’m glad to hear you are enjoying the wonderful variety of resourceful housing from around the globe. Maybe you’ll send into about your retirement home when you get it.
Me too.
Isnt it amazing where we call home. Some of those houses in the remote or third world countries are inventive and temporary. All I can think about is the spiders and the bugs living in all that reeding and thatch. Or to have a giant boulder hanging over you. Hope thay dont have earthquakes! OMG…. I could easlily live in half of these beautiful houses and especially with some of their locals. My vote for the most creative is the seashell house in Mexico. What a beautiful place and of course the backdrop is amazing as we..
İnsanın yaşamak isteyeceği yerler ve evler.Teşekkürler Bay Dusky Pierce.
thanks for sharing. I like very much this site.
Congrats.
Merit
So very inspiring and creative. Another great job, lady.
I have this image on my mind from another ‘wonder.’ It was listed as a road in Japan. A car was driving along between 30 feet of snow on both sides. The sides appeared to perfectly straight. It boggles my mind when I think about the technique or machine used to keep the walls of snow so very straight.
And …..
What’s this about a retirement home for you????
Thank you so much for sharing your Love and the Beauty surrounding us.
Photograph of Kentucky is actually a barn not a house. Recognize it from Lexington.
Denise,
Thanks. I’ve fixed it. Too bad it’s not a house. Such a lovely setting.
I am speachless . These are so awsome. JWD
Another wonderful set of pictures. One little correction though. The second photo is of the Albert which is a pub in London rather than a flat, although the landlord may well live upstairs.