Architectural Oddities

Senators used to relax in the nearly forgotten marble tubs now hidden in the U.S. Capitol Building's basement.

Common all over Japan, kōbans are small community police boxes, and now one is guarding one of L.A.’s megamalls.

This suburban house is made of dirt, and almost sparked a revolution in home construction.

The spaceship-like theater, which is still in use, was one of the most popular exhibits at the 1964 New York World's Fair.

One of the last doorless, continuously moving elevators still in use in the U.K.

The Brutalist building harbors an unusual inverted dome that swoops down over its central sacred room.

The building's fluid, wavelike walls are a true feat of architectural ingenuity.

The naval commander’s proudest moment in battle is memorialized in this unique tomb at Arlington Cemetery.

The first skyscraper to include a Ferris wheel built into the facade.

This cobblestoned medieval-style town was entirely constructed in the 1990s and 2000s.

A building shaped like the Army Corps of Engineers logo, because why not?

Stay at this storybook estate, featuring Sir Henry Hudson Kitson's masterpiece "Gingerbread House."

A tiny chapel clings to a precipice above Germany’s gemstone capital.

The 16th-century church has the only stained glass windows that survived the Scottish Reformation intact.

Henry VIII's forgotten castle was built by the gunpowder-obsessed king to be defended solely by cannons.

This unacceptably tall building was the real reason for Washington, D.C.'s skyscraper ban.

This restored Portuguese cafe may well be the most beautiful place in the world to grab a Big Mac.