The world’s strangest houses - BBC Bitesize (2025)

From an early age, we all know how to draw a house. A square with four more squares inside it for windows, a rectangle for the door and a triangle as a roof - right? Perhaps, if we’re feeling artistic, we might add a couple of extra flourishes - another rectangle with smoke billowing out of it for a chimney, maybe yet another square as a garage.

But actually, very few homes look exactly like this image most of us have in our heads. We may live in a very tall block of flats, or in a squat bungalow. Some homes, like these ones uncovered by Bitesize, make the average three-bedroom semi look extremely ordinary.

House on the Drina, Serbia

The tiny house on a rock in the middle of the Drina river is actually the seventh to stand in its place. Its six predecessors have been washed away - seven if you count the few boards that a group of boys placed on the rock 50 years ago.

It was 1968, and they were tired from swimming so lay down on the rock for a break. The story goes that they found the spot so pleasant, but the stone so uncomfortable, that next time they brought along some planks of wood. The following summer, one of the boys, 17-year-old Milija Mandić, carried more boards on his kayak to transform the basic platform into a house.

Mushroom House, Cincinnati, US

Architecture professor Terry Brown decorated his one-bedroom bungalow with cedar shingles to resemble the underside of a mushroom, then added porthole windows, a partly conical roof and a sculptural orange metal staircase. The result is a home fit for a gnome, or maybe a pixie, but was actually inhabited by Brown himself until his death in 2008.

Brown designed the house out of an interest in Organic Architecture, which aims to create structures that fit into the natural landscape. He built it with the help of a team of metalworkers, glass artists and his architecture students from the University of Cincinnati. Called “Wahopi” but affectionately known as the “mushroom house”, it is now privately-owned but remains a landmark on an otherwise ordinary street.

Krzywy Domek Crooked House, Poland

Standing in front of Krzywy Domek is like stepping inside a fairground hall of mirrors. In 2004, the building was constructed so that it appears distorted - with wavy lines instead of the usual straight ones.

Its designers were inspired by fairytale illustrations by a Polish illustrator of children's books called Jan Marcin Szancer, as well as the surreal drawings of Swedish artist Per Dahlberg. Although Krzywy Domek translates as “The Crooked House”, it actually isn’t a home at all but part of a shopping centre.

Transparent House, Tokyo

A stack of differently-sized clear glass boxes is what this home in a quiet Tokyo neighbourhood looks like. It’s designed by Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto for a young couple, and aims to challenge society’s ideas about privacy - because you can look right inside.

Don’t worry though - there are curtains that can be drawn as temporary partitions should its residents not be in the mood for being observed by total strangers. There are lots of different levels, which are planned to make it feel a bit like living in a tree as our ancestors might once have done.

Strawberry Hill House, Twickenham, UK

It may look like a fairytale castle, but it was in this house that its owner, the writer Horace Walpole, was inspired by a nightmare to write what is generally considered to be the first gothic novel. He bought the land it stands on in Twickenham on the bank of the River Thames in 1747, and constructed a “little gothic castle” with a round tower, pinnacles and battlements.

Although it was his summer residence, Walpole opened Strawberry Hill House to four visitors each day - with his housekeeper conducting tours. Children were not allowed to enter. If you would like to follow in their footsteps, there is no ban on young people visiting today.

The Nautilus, Mexico City

The shell-like structure of this extraordinary home, designed by Mexican architect Javier Senosiain, was made by bending steel-enforced chicken wire into curves and coating them with concrete. Inside, the rooms mimic the circular, organic shapes found inside shells, while hundreds of colourful stained-glass windows decorate the walls and ceilings, casting patches of red, green and blue on the flower-shaped sofas surrounded by fake grass.

Llama house, Argentina

This two-storey home is less llama-shaped than llama-embellished. A local potter built it out of bricks and formed concrete before adding the animal sculpture, which is as tall as the house - its ears poke above the roofline.

The Bug House, Albuquerque

This UFO-shaped house was built in 1984 by New Mexico-born architect Bart Prince, who was interested in buildings that make you want to know more as soon as you see them. He certainly succeeded with this creation, which he designed as his home and studio.

Prince added a library tower in 1990 and a gallery in 2006. The house is guarded by metal stegosaurus sculptures.