Outsider Architecture

The largest 24-karat gold plated object in existence. - Onan's Gold Pyramid House in Wadsworth, Illinois
Wadsworth, Illinois

Onan's Gold Pyramid House

A six-story-tall golden pyramid, surrounded by a moat

The six-story-tall, 17,000-square-foot Gold Pyramid House in Wadsworth, Illinois has to be one of the most bizarre homes ever constructed... »

Outsider Architecture | Submitted by Dylan

Cathedral of Junk in Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas

Cathedral of Junk

An unique structure in suburban Austin comprised entirely of other people's castaways

Tucked unsuspectingly in a suburban backyard in South Austin, is Vince Hannemann's towering Cathedrl of Junk. Some 60 tons of discarded items, many of them bicycles, make up the skeleton and decoration of the structure... »

Outsider Architecture | Submitted by Clinton

Watts Towers in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California

Watts Towers

America's most famous piece of self-built architecture

The Watts Towers in the Watts district of Los Angeles, California, are a collection of 17 interconnected structures, two of which reach heights of over 99 feet (30 m)... »

Outsider Architecture | Submitted by Mary Marshall Fowler

Heidelberg Project in Michigan, US
Michigan, US

Heidelberg Project

One mans attempt to create an artistic wonder on a rundown block in Detroit

Tyree Guyton grew up in a Detroit that was still a thriving city, and his house was in a growing, middle-class neighborhood... »

Outsider Architecture | Submitted by Dylan

The Headington Shark in Headington, U.K.
Headington, U.K.

The Headington Shark

A 26 foot shark sculpture for nuclear disarmament, clever antennae disguise, and municiple battle royale

About four months after the incident at Chernobyl, on August 9, 1986, Oxford-resident Bill Heine had a twenty-six foot shark sculpture erected on his roof... »

Outsider Architecture | Submitted by michelle

Harbin Ice and Snow Festival in China, Asia
China, Asia

Harbin Ice and Snow Festival

One of the world's largest ice festivals dazzles visitors for over a month with radiant sculptures and carvings

Massive ice sculptures loom over visitors bundled up against the -15 degree Celsius weather, paired with giant snow carvings a few miles away looking down on the festivities of the Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival... »

Outsider Architecture | Submitted by re_nakaba

"El Gigante" the unfinished but largest of the Maoi - "El Gigante" and the stone Moai of Easter Island in Chile, South America
Chile, South America

"El Gigante" and the stone Moai of Easter Island

The largest stone Moai on Easter Island

One of the first realizations one has about Easter Island is it's not an archipelago. There are no other islands surrounding it, no in all directions is nothing but empty ocean, for greater distances than from any other inhabited island on Earth... »

Unusual Monuments | Submitted by LongNow

The living quarters of the crew. - Biosphere 2 in Oracle, Arizona
Oracle, Arizona

Biosphere 2

A reproduction of earth's many biomes

With dreams of colonizing Mars, John P. Allen, who made his millions in oil, funded the building of Biosphere 2 in the middle of the Arizona desert... »

Outsider Architecture | Submitted by Tre

Buenos Aires Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires, Argentina
Buenos Aires, Argentina

Buenos Aires Recoleta Cemetery

Buenos Aires most upscale cemetery

Recoleta Cemetery, in the upscale Recoleta Barrio of Buenos Aires, is the final resting place of many of Argentina's wealthiest and most famous families and personages... »

Museums and Collections | Submitted by Anonymous

Zeum Carousel in San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California

Zeum Carousel

A still functioning vaudeville carousel that has operated for over a century boasts a colorful menagerie and past

A veritable still life zoo, the Zeum Carousel in San Francisco's Children's Museum has been giving rides to delighted children and adults alike for over 100 years... »

Outsider Architecture | Submitted by re_nakaba