When the average person chooses a house to live in, their criteria is fairly standard: a place with four walls to keep out dangerous grizzly bears and such. A suitable kitchen in which to microwave hot dogs. A few windows so that you will be able to know if it’s day or night after binging on Netflix. And, one would hope, an indoor toilet. But then there are those people for whom a normal house just won’t cut it. With that in mind, we have compiled a list of 9 houses around the world that are eccentric (but still cool!). People even dream of living in them.
1. The Cube Houses, Rotterdam and Helmond, Netherlands
Sphere and Octagon-shaped houses would be pretty sweet, but nothing compares to a cube house! In fact, Rotterdam and Helmond have a whole set of them. These houses tilt at a 45-degree angle and contain a total of 4 floors: the first being the entrance, the second containing a living room and kitchen, the third consisting of two bedrooms and a bathroom, and a top floor that can be used as a garden.
2. The Drina River House, Bajina Basta, Serbia
Once upon a time in 1968, a group of young dudes who enjoyed sunbathing on a rock in the middle of river grew attached to it and decided it would make the perfect foundation for a little shelter. It obviously didn’t take much to convince the landowner of this since the following year he began construction on the little house that remains there to this day. It is even a candidate to receive status as a UNESCO protected landmark. Hooray!
3. Villa Mistral, Singapore
Some people are happy enough with modern. Others snicker at how primitive modern is. So what are you to do if you can’t settle for anything less than ultramodern? Thankfully, there’s a house in Singapore just for you! Located on the Island of Sentosa, this four floor house looks like a sleek cruise ship! But without the shuffle-board playing retirees, we would hope.
4. The Shoe House, Mpumalanga, South Africa
There was an old woman who lived in a shoe. And thanks to artist and hotelier Ron Van Zyl, so can you! It’s part of a guest house complex that also includes a camp site, pool, bar and restaurant. Back in 1990 Van Zyl built the shoe house for his wife Yvonne in hopes that it would convince her to give up her addiction to buying shoes. Okay, we’re making that last part up. Or are we?
5. The Hobbit House, Wales
Guys, you are never going to be able to out-awesome Simon Dale. Ever. Fed up with mortgage payments, this Englishman decided to do what any reasonable person would do: move the wife and kids to Wales and build a Hobbit-inspired home in spite of the fact that you have no experience with architecture or carpentry. Remarkably, the plan worked! At only £3000 ($4,020), he built it entirely from recycled materials. But the family eventually moved out, found a better place and lived happily ever after. Just kidding. Their new home burned to the ground on New Year’s Day, 2018.
6. The Winchester Mystery House, San Jose, California
Folks, the Winchester Mystery House is a weird-ass place. This Queen Anne Style Victorian mansion, owned by Sarah Winchester, the widow of firearm magnate William Wirt Winchester, began construction in 1884 and literally had no semblance of a coherent master plan. For the next 38 years, Mrs. Winchester continued to expand the mansion, insisting on sticking doors and stairs in places that didn’t go anywhere, among other oddities. In fact, if Sarah had been immortal, there is reason to believe that the entire land that the city of San Jose sits on would consist of this one mansion by now. But Sarah croaked in 1922, so we’ll never know.
7. The Flintstone House, Hillsborough, California
Built in 1976 by architect William Nicholson as an experience in new building materials, this single-family residence in California wasn’t technically inspired by the modern stone-age family’s house. But enough people saw a resemblance that the name “Flintstone House” stuck, although others have called it the Star Wars house due to its similarity to the homes on Tatooine. The home fell into disrepair in the mid-80s but was restored and in the 2000s remodeled. In 2017 three large steel dinosaur sculptures were installed around the property, which we guess means some wise-asses are going to start calling it the Jurassic Park House or something.
8. Seashell House, Casa Caracol, Isla Mujeres
Have you ever dreamed of living like a hermit crab? If you’ve got $308/night to spare, Airbnb can make this a reality! Aside from two bedrooms, the property (two shells, technically) also includes a private swimming pool surrounded by coconut trees, tropical plants and inquisitive iguanas who won’t shut up.
9. Casa Brutale, Beirut, Lebanon
How about living in a house that hangs from a cliff? This beauty located on Faqra Mountain near Beirut, is, shall we say is, “plain and simple”. Construction on this house began in July 2016 and is expected to be complete sometime in 2018. It is simple. It is minimalist. Oh, and there’s room to park three cars on the underground level. Simple indeed!
