A house might be the most important work of architecture for humankind, as shelter is one of the basic requirements we need to survive. But a house has become much more than protection from the elements, and even more than a place to live. Houses give architects—and the homeowners who commission them—a perfect blank slate to experiment with, since private residential dwellings aren’t always held to the same creativity-stifling demands as public structures are. Since the turn of the 20th century, popular styles of architecture have come and gone at an incredible pace, meaning that houses built within the last 118 years exhibit vastly different looks. There’s no better way to examine the most famous structures of them all than diving into the book The Iconic House: Architectural Masterworks Since 1900 , by Dominic Bradbury ( $35, Thames & Hudson ). Featuring over 100 international projects by such architects as Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright, Charles and Ray Eames, Oscar Niemeyer, Tadao Ando, David Adjaye, and many others, the book is a comprehensive overview of the most significant houses built over the last century, with original photographs by Richard Powers plus floor plans and other illustrations. Originally released in 2009, the latest edition has added new homes from the last decade. Take a peek inside the book here.
Palm Springs, California, is a mecca of midcentury-modern architecture, and there’s perhaps no structure more famous than Richard Neutra’s Kaufmann House, built in 1947.
Antti Lovag’s Palais Bulles, built in 1989, is one of the most iconic structure on the French Riviera, noted for its Space Age–inspired form that has no right angles—at all. One of its most famous residents was fashion designer Pierre Cardin.
Looking as if it were plucked from a fairy tale, the 1902 Villa Majorelle by Henri Sauvage and Louis Majorelle was the first Art Nouveau building constructed in Nancy, France.
Alison and Peter Smithson, famous for the Robin Hood Gardens social housing complex in London, designed the low-cost Upper Lawn Pavilion as their weekend retreat in Wiltshire, England, in 1962. They used this house as research into new suburban architecture.
Looking more like a villain's lair from a film than a real-life private home, John Lautner’s 1968 Elrod residence in Palm Springs features a concrete dome over its living room.
Robert Venturi built the postmodern Vanna Venturi House in Philadelphia for his mother in 1964.
Located in São Paulo, Paulo Mendes Da Rocha’s Millán House from 1970 is a concrete masterpiece.
Inspired by Le Corbusier's ideals, as well as the Bauhaus, Harry Seidler designed the 1950 Rose Seidler House in Wahroonga, Australia.
The 1966 Gwathmey House & Studio by Charles Gwathmey looks quite unlike many of its neighbors in the tony beach town of Amagansett on Long Island, New York. It was designed to be a livable sculpture.
Oscar Niemeyer’s Canoas House, which he built as his family home in 1954 in Rio de Janeiro, is the pinnacle of Brazilian modernism.
The Iconic House: Architectural Masterworks Since 1900 .
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