Stiltsville Houses, Key Biscayne, Florida

Forbes: Homes in Unusual Places

Sure, there are awesome mansions and amazing waterfront properties on Key Biscayne, once home to President Richard Nixon’s winter White House. But to live in a home with wraparound porches smack in the turquoise waters, trade the glitz for Stiltsville, a neighborhood of wood stilt houses about 10 feet above the shallow water on the edge of Biscayne Bay in Biscayne National Park. In the 1940s and 1950s, Stiltsville was a Miami hotspot, with social clubs among the original 27 cabins. Hurricanes have taken their toll: only seven houses remain.

(Forbes Image)

More From Forbes:
The Tiniest Homes On The Market
10 Cool Camouflage Homes
Amazing Glass Homes

The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Comcast.

More from this Slideshow

0 of 0

Caveland, Festus... Fred and Wilma Flintstone, meet the Jetsons. First a sandstone mine and later a roller rink and concert venue where Bob Segar and Ike and Tina Turner performed, the nearly three-acre property known as 'Caveland' was purchased on eBay in 2003. Its new owners, according to their web site, transformed the cave into a naturally insulated two-story, three bedroom home with a gently curving staircase, hardwood floors and 28 salvaged sliding glass doors on the façade. Most of the rock walls are still exposed in their natural state. Once licensed as a bomb shelter, the cave has a natural spring and city water.

(caveland.us)

More From Forbes:
The Tiniest Homes On The Market
10 Cool Camouflage Homes
Amazing Glass Homes

The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Comcast.
Desert Nomad Hou... Where to put a contemporary yurt? Rick Joy’s award-winning art-filled Desert Nomad House is secluded on 8.3 acres in the Sonoran desert at the base of the Tucson Mountains. You won’t even need to dress up when walking the gravel paths that link the trio of rusted steel cubes in small, medium and large sizes housing the entertaining, sleeping and working spaces. Each cube has a floor-to-ceiling wall of glass with panoramic desert and mountain views and close-ups of Saguaro cacti. On the market for $875,000, Walter Cecil, its current owner and resident art and rug dealer, calls his home, “a perfect marriage between good modern architecture and a pristine desert environment.”

(Rick Joy)

More From Forbes:
The Tiniest Homes On The Market
10 Cool Camouflage Homes
Amazing Glass Homes

The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Comcast.
Desert Nomad Hou... (Rick Joy)

More From Forbes:
The Tiniest Homes On The Market
10 Cool Camouflage Homes
Amazing Glass Homes

The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Comcast.
Waterwood Estate... The excavated and flattened bluffs on the shores of Lake Erie are a perhaps unlikely spot for a 40,000 square foot secluded modern “pod” home laid out by its late inventor owner. The estate has 20 building pods with pyramid-shaped slate roofs that connect by glass corridors wide enough to maneuver golf carts. On the market for $19.5 million, Waterwood Estate has a helicopter hangar and a garage floor that rotates 360 degrees “so you don’t have to back out,” says Scott Street, owner of Street Sotheby’s International Realty, the listing broker. The dining table in the wine grotto rises through the two-story manse to a retractable glass dome so visitors can enjoy panoramic views of the lake with their merlot. Along the 3,500-ft. beachfront a private marina large enough for 15 to 20 boats awaits, just in case your fleet wants to angle for walleye, trout or perch.

(Forbes Image)

More From Forbes:
The Tiniest Homes On The Market
10 Cool Camouflage Homes
Amazing Glass Homes

The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Comcast.
Waterwood Estate... (Sotheby's International Realty)

More From Forbes:
The Tiniest Homes On The Market
10 Cool Camouflage Homes
Amazing Glass Homes

The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Comcast.
WW II Ruin, Hamm... A five-story World War II bunker pockmarked by several air attacks but structurally sound provided a vertical, urban plot with great views for a residential penthouse built on top of it in 2008 by Amort Architektur. As a historical landmark, the bunker remains unpainted and unchanged in stark contrast to the contemporary brick, wood and steel dwelling with cantilevered decks on top.

(Amort Architektur)

More From Forbes:
The Tiniest Homes On The Market
10 Cool Camouflage Homes
Amazing Glass Homes

The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Comcast.
WW II Ruin, Hamm... (Amort Architektur)

More From Forbes:
The Tiniest Homes On The Market
10 Cool Camouflage Homes
Amazing Glass Homes

The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Comcast.
Stiltsville Hous... Sure, there are awesome mansions and amazing waterfront properties on Key Biscayne, once home to President Richard Nixon’s winter White House. But to live in a home with wraparound porches smack in the turquoise waters, trade the glitz for Stiltsville, a neighborhood of wood stilt houses about 10 feet above the shallow water on the edge of Biscayne Bay in Biscayne National Park. In the 1940s and 1950s, Stiltsville was a Miami hotspot, with social clubs among the original 27 cabins. Hurricanes have taken their toll: only seven houses remain.

(Forbes Image)

More From Forbes:
The Tiniest Homes On The Market
10 Cool Camouflage Homes
Amazing Glass Homes

The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Comcast.
Stiltsville Hous... (miamicharters.com)

More From Forbes:
The Tiniest Homes On The Market
10 Cool Camouflage Homes
Amazing Glass Homes

The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Comcast.
See More From Fo... Click here to see more homes that reside in bizarre locations.