Beyond Fallingwater: 10 Famous Homes Around the World

When he wasn’t designing groundbreaking modernist homes for other people, Frank Lloyd Wright—one of the most celebrated architects of the 20th century—escaped to his winter home, Taliesin West in arid Scottsdale, Arizona. A low-slung, desert-inspired structure of his own design, Taliesin West was completed in 1937 and well-used by the architect up until his death in 1959. Today, it’s home to the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation and School of Architecture and open to the public for tours.

Dutch socialite Truus Schröder-Schräder had an unusual request when she enlisted the architect Gerrit Rietveld to design her family a home: Build it without any walls. The resulting Rietveld Schröder House, completed in 1924, has a revolutionary design with an open, airy feel and seamless transitions between spaces both inside and out. These days, it’s a UNESCO World Heritage site and open for tours.

Peeking out from the dense tree cover just off Highway 70, west of Denver, the white dome of the Sculptured House looks like something from another world. This strange structure, built in 1963, is also known as “the Flying Saucer House” and “the Sleeper House,” the latter because it appeared in Woody Allen’s 1973 sci-fi comedy Sleeper. Architect Charles Deaton ran out of money before the house was finished, so it sat vacant for three decades before it was finally furnished. These days, it’s for rent for private events.

If you’ve ever wanted to know what living in a fishbowl feels like, take a stroll through The Glass House in New Canaan, Conn., a midcentury glass box designed by architect Philip Johnson as his own residence in 1949. At 55 feet long and 33 feet wide, this 1,815-square-foot property has four exterior walls of solid glass, which doesn't allow for much privacy. Maybe that's why no one lives here anymore: The Glass House is open for tours and also hosts events throughout the year.