“Mushroom House” in upstate N.Y. is different, but not the strangest home of 2011.
A quest to find the world’s strangest homes of 2011 began with a compellingly eccentric home located in an exotic place. (Pics)
The challenging part of this quest wasn’t finding suitably weird homes, it was paring them down and trying to rank them in a meaningful way.
Of course, one man’s strange home is another’s architectural masterpiece. So, in the end, we opted to highlight homes that are both strange and wonderful.
We want to thank our friends at CNBC.com, Curbed, Forbes.com, Zillow, and Inman News for helping us to identify or in some cases revisit the world’s strangest homes. Would these 10 make your list, too?
No. 10 – Birds Island
Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Designer: Graft architects
No. 10 – Birds Island sustainable homes, built on a pier, feature a silicone glass exterior
for a transparent wall.
No. 9 – Moroccan-Style Palace
Location: Briarforest, Houston, TX
Designer: Arabesque Inc.
No.9 – This 19,668 sq.-foot, 8-bedroom home features guest houses, a pool, and a petting zoo.
No. 8 – The ‘Up” House
Location: Herriman, UT
Designer: Bangerter Homes
No. 8 – After watching Pixar’s Up, Blair Bangerter built this replica of a home carried aloft
by balloons in the movie.
Photo: bangerterhomes.com | Inset: Pixar Animation Studios
No. 7 – Minnesota Foam Home, aka Hobbit House
Location: Minnetrista, MN
Architect: Winslow Wedin
No. 7 – Built in 1969 from polyurethane spray foam, chicken wire and 2 x 2s,
it’s a surprisingly energy-efficient home.
Photo: Keller Williams Realty, the Dayna Murray team
No. 6 – American Versailles Castle
Location: Versailles, KY
No. 6 – For $30 million, you can own a 50-room castle once remodeled as a bed-and-breakfast.
No. 5 – White House Replica
Location: McLean, VA
Source: Inman News
No. 5 – This 12,000-square-foot homage to the White House was reportedly built in 1995 by an
immigrant as a “thank you” to his new country.
Photo: Chu Nguyen/Fairfax Realty Inc.
No. 4 – The Minister’s Treehouse
Location: Crossville, TN
Builder: Horace Burgess
No. 4 – A 10-story treehouse that has at least 8,000 square-feet of space.
Photo: flickr | [casey]
No. 3 – Dune House
Location: Atlantic Beach, FL
Architect: William Morgan
No. 3 – The architect says he built this home “like a seashell. You have a sense of being in
the dune and looking out onto the Atlantic.”
No. 2 – Mushroom House
Location: Pittsford, N.Y
Architect: James Johnson
No. 2 – Interior of Mushroom House, with 5 connected pods.
Photo: Rich Testa of RE/MAX Advance
No. 1 – House Taishido, aka Cat House
Location: Near Tokyo, Japan
Designer: Key Operation Inc.
Source: Inman News
No. 1 – A cat navigates climbable, feline-friendly shelving in House Taishido, aka Cat House.
Photo: Key Operation Inc.