1988 Items Tagged

Architectural Oddities

Heart eyes.

13 Buildings With Extraordinary Exteriors

No entry needed to appreciate these edifices.

Allegra Rosenberg October 6, 2025

Siuntio, Finland

Pickala Soviet Triumphal Arch

A rare remnant of Finland’s Soviet-occupied past.

The Loretto Staircase.

The Miraculous Loretto Chapel Staircase

The Sisters of Loretto prayed nine days for this staircase—and on the ninth day, it came.

Sponsored By Visit Santa Fe

Millport, Scotland

The Wedge

The narrowest house in the U.K.

The Upside-Down House in Trassenheide.

Get Whimsical: 18 Surreal Architectural Sites to Visit in Germany

You’ve seen the fairy-tale castles and the Bauhaus architecture. But have you ever seen anything quite like this?

Sponsored By The German National Tourist Office and Lufthansa

Nishiki Tenmangū Shrine

A 1000-year-old shrine in Kyoto with a poorly planned sacred arch.

Kong, Côte d'Ivoire

The Grand Mud Mosque of Kong

Perhaps the biggest draw to this mosque is its remote location and lack of tourists.

Price Tower

What Happened to Price Tower, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Only Skyscraper?

The only skyscraper Frank Lloyd Wright designed is currently sitting empty. Turns out, its design was maybe a little too considered.

The Podcast Team July 4, 2025

Toronto, Ontario

Rosalie Sharp Centre for Design

This buzzy, award-winning building hovers 85 feet above the ground on a dozen colorful stilts.

Bartenders pour up a particularly smooth pint of Guinness at The Guinea.

Gastro Obscura’s 10 Essential Stops on an Alternative London Pub Crawl

Set off in search of architectural oddities, hidden art installations, and perfectly poured pints.

Istanbul, Turkey

Şakirin Mosque

A mosque with distinctive modern features.

Lansing, West Virginia

Bridge Walk

In West Virginia, you can walk across the longest single-arch bridge in the Western Hemisphere.

Sponsored By West Virginia Department of Tourism

Fayetteville, West Virginia

Cathedral Café

Soak in the sacred vibes at this beloved food and coffee hangout inside a former church.

Sponsored By West Virginia Department of Tourism

Istanbul, Turkey

Şemsi Pasha Mosque

An Ottoman-era mosque looking over the Black Sea.

Puente de la Culebra (Snake Bridge)

A unique Baroque bridge preserved in Madrid's largest public park.

Petrópolis, Brazil

Belvedere do Grinfo

This spaceship-like structure was once a popular roadside restaurant.

Newtown, Pennsylvania

Wrightstown Schoolhouse

This 1802 building is the last remaining octagonal schoolhouse in Bucks County.

Créteil, France

Choux de Créteil

A cluster of cylindrical apartment buildings nod to the city’s vegital past.