Architectural Oddities

An "inside out" building in the historical center of Paris, featuring Europe’s largest modern art museum.

Britain's answer to the NSA is based out of this deliciously-named circular headquarters.

Philadelphia boasts one of the best — and most often overlooked — traditional Japanese gardens in North America.

This town near Nagasaki is flecked with fruit-flavored bus stops.

Formerly known as the Malay Quarter, Bo Kaap is a colorfully-painted suburb located in the “Mother City” of South Africa.

Where better to stay the night than inside a trio of ancient Chinese deities representing "the good life."

This little blue house pokes out over the campus of UC San Diego, seven stories high.

Along the old Route 66 is an abandoned trading post made from old telephone poles, built by a former circus clown.

A sewing machine tycoon built this miniature castle for the people and to beautify a lakeshore.

A cabin completely covered in coffee mugs, where visitors are welcome to leave one of their own—if they can find an empty nail.

The only royal palace on U.S. soil has been a territorial capitol, a military headquarters, and a prison for a queen.

The remnants of a Gilded Age elegance preserved in the middle of a stark modern tower.

This little barrel-shaped cottage by Lake Superior was once a cartoonist's summer retreat.

A rotating bridge that carries a little canal over a larger one.

New York's oldest concrete structure is being preserved thanks to the gentrification of Whole Foods.

This late-brutalist masterpiece everyone forgot about was originally created to get the proletariat jazzed about the arts.