What makes a home “famous”?
A home is a place of safety, rest, and security. While childhood memories, adolescent angst, tender milestones, and private breakdowns can all contribute to making even the most modest of homes subjectively special in someone’s heart, most homes blend into the background; they absorb the day-to-day humdrum of life, and even if the interior of the house is designed to be a unique expression of you or your family, the exterior can is more often than not unobtrusive and generic.
Because of this, a home that has something objectively special can become a stand-out in the public’s consciousness. Maybe that home is connected to a famous person, a distinctive time period, an extreme aesthetic – very lavish, or very minimalistic – or perhaps it has an easily-recognized style of architecture. The front of the home could feature an intricate mosaic courtyard, a distinctly painted garage, an oddly shaped roof, or giant, sliding glass doors.
Take a Trip To The Most Famous Houses in the World
We can see this specialness in full display when we think about some of the most famous homes across the world.
A Garden-Green Cottage
Claude Monet’s French painting retreat is not just known for its use by the impressionist painter; while the cottage is humble to a 21st century eye, the exterior is painted a distinctive, garden-green color that pairs beautifully with the rose and peony bushes clustering all around the entrance – and, of course, the iconic lily pond in the backyard.
A Historic Reminder
The Anne Frank House is known by name alone; it isn’t famous for its looks, but for the somber role it plays in international history.
The Paradox of Eco-Brutalism
In Montreal, Canada, the now-historic Habitat 67 building is famous for being one of the first and largest residential buildings to combine the stark gray brutalist architecture of the post-War era with park-like flora on every level.
American Standouts
In the United States, many can easily point out the distinctive architectural style of Frank Lloyd Wright homes. The House of Seven Gables – built in the 1600s and named for its (you guessed it) seven gables – is famous for being one of the oldest standing homes in America.
San Francisco’s Painted Ladies are immediately recognizable for their bright pastel colors and distinct shape and arrangement; when you think of San Francisco, you think of those houses.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, the William Randolph Hearst castle is famous for being so out of place compared to the rest of the Californian residential architecture surrounding it: a giant white castle with turrets and spires, it stands out amidst the palm trees.
There’s also the White House, of course; anyone could tell you why that one is well-known.
The Biggest House In The World
Built to be the official residence of the Sultan of Brunei on the island of Borneo, Istana Nurul Iman was, as of 2023, known to be the number one biggest house in the world. It was designed by Filipino architect Leandro Locsin for the Sultan and his friends, family, and esteemed political guests to use as their primary residence. Beyond its beautiful blend of Malaysian and Islamic architecture, this lavish residential palace features almost 2,000 separate rooms. Not all of these are bedrooms; expansive stables for polo ponies, a 110-car garage, almost 300 bathrooms, and a mosque large enough to host up to 5,000 worshippers are only a few of the amenities that make this extravagant fixture stand out as a jaw-dropping feat in residential architecture.
The Smallest House in the World
More of a gimmick than a real home, the world’s smallest house is an exercise in the abstract and symbolic. The installation measures only one square meter, reflecting its designer’s trying experiences. Van Bo Le-Metnzel of Hartz IV Möbel and BMW Guggenheim Lab was a refugee from Laos who founded the One Sqm Revolution. His approach was intimately rooted in his life experiences: at the hardest time in his life, Le-Metnzel would think to himself that he wanted nothing more than just one square meter to name his home. While the square meter house is not livable, Le-Metnzel’s concept of tiny mobile homes is rising in popularity for their economical design and low cost.
The Number One Most Expensive House in the World
With housing prices skyrocketing everywhere, it’s hard to get a handle on what the most expensive home is – but Buckingham Palace comes pretty close. Located in the City of Westminster, London, this residential palace is estimated to cost around 1.3 billion dollars and is one of the most iconic buildings in the world. Serving as the official residence and administrative headquarters of the British monarch, it holds immense historical, cultural, and political significance.
The origins of the Palace date back to 1703, when it was originally known as Buckingham House, built for the Duke of Buckingham. In 1761, it was acquired by King George III as a private residence for Queen Charlotte, hence also known as The Queen’s House. The transformation of the house into a palace began in 1820 under King George IV, who commissioned architect John Nash to expand it. Nash’s design incorporated the French neo-classical style, resulting in the home’s imposing central courtyard and the grand façade passerbys and tourists can see from the outside. Further modifications were made in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which included installing the iconic balcony from which the Royal Family greets crowds during significant events.
While not nearly as big as the Sultan’s house, Buckingham Palace boasts 775 rooms, including 19 state rooms, 52 royal and guest bedrooms, 188 staff bedrooms, 92 offices, and 78 bathrooms. The Palace’s price is also reflected in its contents: the interior is adorned with artistic treasures from the Royal Collection, including paintings by Rembrandt, Rubens, and Canaletto, fine porcelain, and exquisite antique and modern furniture.
The Royal Family may be controversial these days, but there is no denying the historical significance and lavish beauty of this iconic home.
The Oldest Standing Home in the World
In direct contrast to the Sultan’s Palace, the Knap of Howar is a small stone farmstead located on the Scottish island of Papa Westray. Archaeologists believe that this home – with its thick walls, low doorways, and sea-facing front – was built around 3,500 years BC. To give a little context to how old that is – the Sahara desert had only just begun to form! The Knap is believed to have survived this long due to its design: joint buildings flank each other, and the material surrounding them may have protected the interiors from the elements. All of the interiors are made of stone, with three identifiable rooms that even include storage areas like cupboards that this home’s ancient residents would have used.
Glass Homes: 20th Century Modernism Today
American homes stand out through their innovative architecture and unique locations. Glass houses – with tall windows and doors that give direct access to the home’s exterior and interior, or reflect light in unique and interesting ways – have represented modernity and the avant-garde of architecture since the 1920s. At Monumental Windows and Doors, we have proven our dedication to realizing the most up-to-date, innovative version of the glass home vision with a number of stand-out homes in our repertoire.
The Santa Monica Dream House: Frank Gehry’s Vision Realized
Legendary architect Frank Gehry took on the project of a lifetime after he turned 80 years old. In 2016, as an artistic experiment, Gehry and his son Sam decided to design a new home for himself and his wife on the off chance they would like to leave their long-time Santa Monica residence behind. Gehry had only once explicitly built a home for himself despite his illustrious career as an architect, and this was the perfect opportunity to once again experiment – at a completely new stage in his career.
Self-Referential and Sculptural
The new “Santa Monica Dream House” combined strong, structural beams of exposed fir scaffold with giant clear glass windows in between. The house simultaneously feels like a secluded cabin, a welcoming playhouse, and an elegant ocean-facing sculpture. He relied on the same principles that inspired the enormous reflective glass walls of the now-iconic Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles: one of his own designs. The home was built using Monumental’s 2100 motorized awning window and 3000 series windows, which feature durable thermally broken aluminum frames with excellent insulating properties that reduce heating and cooling costs. The extra-thick insulated glass helps keep out noise, dust, and pollen – ideal for creating a private, secluded feel and protecting the home against its greenery and beach-side surroundings. Our windows come in a variety of shapes and sizes to fit any opening and were just right for the angular, unconventional design of the Dream House’s roof.
Gehry and his son created a work of art that is not only a beautiful retirement home for himself and his wife but a place that brings people of different walks of life together.
The Invisible House
You may have heard of Wonder Woman’s invisible plane, or even the Invisible Man – but have you heard of the Invisible House?
Located in the arid rocky desert of Joshua Tree National Park, the Invisible House was designed by film producer Chris Hanley, best known for producing indie films like American Psycho and The Virgin Suicides. This one-of-a-kind home has floor-to-ceiling mirrored windows that reflect a stunning panoramic view of the 90 private acres of Joshua Trees it stands in. Architecturally, its design is an absence of design: every inch of it is created to reflect its beautiful surroundings and give you the illusion that it blends into the desert backdrop. It takes Monumental’s goal of marrying the landscape with the home’s interior to a new level.
The Monumental Touch
The home was built using Monumental Windows and Doors glass panels. Accommodating for its size, we produce glass panels up to 8 feet wide and 12 feet tall. The Invisible House’s completely transparent design offers a view of the changing landscape by the hour. Monumental’s low-profile frames, which allow full and unobstructed views of the desert mountains, were a perfect fit for the one-of-a-kind design of this home.
Extreme Weather, Simple Design
This unique creation is constantly facing environmental extremes. Blistering hot summers and cold dry winters make Joshua Tree a tricky place to live, and even trickier if your house is made of glass. Monumental Windows and Doors was the perfect pick to get this house off the ground.
Not only do we specialize in durable, high-quality glass, but we also have a reputation for understanding how ecology and the environment interact with your home – and we can navigate those interactions in an eco-friendly way. Monumental’s sliding glass doors are made with long-lasting, thermally broken aluminum frames and filled with multi-pane, Low-E coated glass that regulates outdoor temperature in even the harshest of weather environments.
The Marina del Rey Floating Beach House
Another magical Frank Gehry creation, the del Rey Floating Beach House design tricks a casual viewer’s eyes into thinking that its walls are floating off the ground. It was built for art collectors Roy and Carol Doumani as, essentially, an art installation.
Mathematical Magic
Considering the house is an art installation, you wouldn’t think math would be involved – but that’s the fun of architecture! The floating effect is achieved by the mathematical placement of Monumental’s durable reflective windows in between the protruding wall siding; when the light hits the windows, the beautiful beachy landscape and clear blue sky are reflected, making the quirky little walls “float”. Each floating panel is made with both flat and corrugated multi-hued titanium and seamlessly installed alongside Monumental’s long-lasting, thermally broken aluminum frames.
What makes a home a home means different things to different people; not everyone wants their residence to double as an abstract work of art. But beauty and innovation are key to the human experience, and we at Monumental are skilled at marrying the practicality and comfort of a residence with avant-garde materials, nature-embracing designs, and unconventional locations. Contact us today with any questions about how our glass windows and doors can achieve your residential vision.