Are These the Weirdest Homes in America?

The Weird Homes Tour, a Texas- and Oregon-based project that began in 2014 as a way to “reject cookie cutter design and architecture and embrace the wonderfulness of weird,” invites the public to explore some of the country's most singular dwellings.

Can’t wait for a dose of oddball design? Read on.

The Giraffe House in Austin (above), is a labor of love that contains at least 600 of the long-necked creatures (their owner, Autumn, has long since lost count). Autumn was a zoo volunteer in middle school, and she’s now a zoo aficionado: she’s met every giraffe in her home state of Texas. Her Giraffe House collection includes giraffe figurines, giraffe housewares and even giraffe clothing.

Austin’s “Sand Dollar House” has been a Lake Travis landmark since Frank Lloyd Wright protégé John Covert Watson built it for the artist Eugenia Hunt in 1979. Watson created an intimate relationship between the structure and the natural world both in its literal shape — the roof is a massive sand dollar with holes that function as skylights — and features like bare windows that offer a 270-degree view of the lake.

The Sand Dollar House’s current owner, Liz, fell hard for its organic elegance. When she first spied it as a young woman, she told herself, “I’m going to live there someday.” She made good on that vow when the home hit the market in 2017.

Cozying up in a space like this one means accepting that artwork on the walls might never be quite level. But strategically placed plants help enhance the organic feel of this home.