Robert Powell reveals ten of the strangest homes ever built...
Quick question: when is a barn not a barn?
Answer: When it’s a luxury three bedroom house!
Well, it is if your name's Alan or Sarah Beesley anyway. Yes, this Hertfordshire couple came up with a novel way to evade green belt planning restrictions by telling the council that they wanted to build a barn, and then hiding a house inside it!
From the outside the building looks like any other hay barn; it has a metal roof, no windows and is surrounded by agricultural machinery. But inside, the Beesleys had created their own plush pad, complete with a study, gym, living room and garage which they moved into back in 2002.
The couple hoped that by the time they informed the council about their hidden home – which they eventually did in 2006 – the time limit for enforcement action against the building would have expired.
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Unfortunately for them, the Supreme Court disagreed; ruling that the Beesleys must give up and vacate their property as it breached planning rules.
But this barn-house isn’t the first weird and wonderful property to be created by owners looking for a home that’s a little different from the average two up-two down.
Here are nine more...
9. Nuclear warhead house
Ed Pedin’s underground home in Kansas is certainly not a cramped property. But that’s because it used to play home to a four megaton nuclear warhead! It took more than a decade for this defunct missile silo in the Kansas Hills near Topeka to be renovated and transformed into a home. It now boasts a library, hot tub and music room as well as 11,000 square feet of underground garage!
8. Chameleon house
Perched in a cherry orchard overlooking Lake Michigan, the chameleon house is constructed from materials that allow it to change colour depending on its surroundings. The property is surrounded by polyethylene slats that can gather light and colour, giving the building the effect of shifting shades with the environment.
But on a slightly less scientific level – its sofa doesn’t look very comfy!
7. Boeing 727 house
Here’s a home for the avid plane spotter in your life! Located in Beniot, Mississippi – the Boeing 727 cost Joanne Ussary $2,000 (£1,200) to purchase, $4,000 (£2,400) to move and $24,000 (£15,000) to renovate!
The house boasts a jacuzzi in the cockpit, one original aeroplane toilet as the bathroom, and a remote opening the front door staircase!
Toilet house
Taking the idea of an outdoor toilet to a whole new level, this South Korean privy shaped property was built by Sim-Jae-duck of the World Toilet Association to highlight the need for better sanitation. Mr Sim – who was reportedly born in a bathroom – has campaigned for clean and beautiful toilets for years.
The £1.2m house is made from white concrete, steel and glass has two bedrooms, two guestrooms and of course, three deluxe toilets!
Upside down house
Turning the whole notion of regular homes on its head, this upside down house in the tiny Polish village of Szymbark was built as a statement against the Communist era.
But amazingly this isn’t the only topsy-turvy home that’s ever been built. A similar property was created for a German zoo last year and comes complete with an upside down bathroom, dining room and patio set!
Balancing barn
Created by Living Architecture – the enterprise dreamed up by philosopher and architect Alain de Botton – the Balancing Barn is built over the edge of a small hill in a Suffolk nature reserve. The outside of the property is mirrored and it can sleep a maximum of eight people.
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The unique property is not actually anyone’s private residence and can instead be rented out for holidays and weekend breaks.
House up a stick
Created by the Polish Front Architects, the Single Hauz or ‘house up a stick’ is a one person property designed for locations with extraordinary landscapes. The house can be installed in a lake, forest or even on the side of a mountain.
But if space is something you look for in a house, you should probably steer clear of this creation – its living quarters are more reminiscent of a large cupboard than an actual home!
Spider-house
Buying a home is a big commitment – after all, what happens if you fall out with the neighbours or get bored with the local area? Well, a Danish art collective and engineers from MIT have come up with a new way to solve these problems; put the house on legs!
The 10 foot high walking house has six hydraulic legs and can move at walking pace across all terrains. The prototype model has a living room, kitchen, toilet and bed and is designed to beat floods by simply running away from them!
Hitler house
Ok, so maybe I’m pushing it a bit with this home. But when photos of a Swansea house that looked like Hitler swept Twitter last month, I couldn’t help but chuckle! The door of the house was said to resemble Hitler’s moustache, while the slanted roof was the dictator’s fringe and the two upstairs windows, the eyes!
The home is owned by a man in his 70’s who – when told about the online joke – asked what Twitter was!
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