The Strangest Homes of 2011

"Mushroom House" in upstate N.Y. is different, but it's not the strangest home of 2011. Photo: Rich Testa of RE/MAX Advance

A compellingly eccentric home located in an exotic place. That was the starting point in our quest to find the world’s strangest homes of 2011.

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
Source: CNBC.com

No. 10 - Birds Island sustainable homes, built on a pier, feature a silicone glass exterior for a transparent wall. Photo: graftlab.com

 

No. 9 - Moroccan-Style Palace
Location: Briarforest, Houston, TX
Designer: Arabesque Inc.
Source: Zillow

No.9 - This 19,668 sq.-foot, 8-bedroom home features guest houses, a pool, and a petting zoo. Photo: Zillow

 

No. 8 - The ‘Up” House
Location: Herriman, UT
Designer: Bangerter Homes
Source: CNBC.com

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
Source: CNBC.com

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
Source: Curbed

No. 6 - For $30 million, you can own a 50-room castle once remodeled as a bed-and-breakfast. Photo: Zillow

 

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
Source: CNBC.com

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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
Source: Curbed 

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." Photo: Curbed

No. 2 - Mushroom House
Location: Pittsford, N.Y
Architect: James Johnson
Source: Forbes

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.

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