The odd appeal of novelty architecture

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Mimetic designs that stand out from the crowd​

Novelty architecture, also called mimetic architecture, is a unique type of building known for its unusually literal appearance. These buildings often commemorate an event or serve as an advertisement. They can also copy other famous buildings without any intention of being authentic. The style generally became popular in the United States in the 1930s, though some examples date back to the very beginning of the 20th century. Today, novelty buildings can be admired throughout the world, and serve as visitor attractions in their own right.

 

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Teapot Dome Service Station -

A former gas station built in the shape of a teapot located in Zillah, Washington state, this quirky example of novelty architecture was constructed in 1922.

 

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High-Heel Wedding Church -

Famous for its use as a wedding venue, this novelty church (which has no religious function) is located in Budai Township, Chiayi County, Taiwan.

 

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Ice-cream can -

An ice-cream booth modeled as a giant milk churn set off a busy southern Californian highway, photographed in the 1950s.

 

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Wigwam Motel -

Wigwam Motels, also known as the "Wigwam Villages," is a motel chain in the United States built during the 1930s and 1940s. Two of the motels are located on Route 66, in Holbrook Arizona, and Rialto, California.

 

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Root beer stand -

This root beer stand in Kansas City, Missouri is built in the likeness of a Native American chief.

 

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Basket-shaped building -

The huge, seven-story basket-shaped Newark, New Jersey headquarters of the Longaberger handcrafted baskets company.

 

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Big Duck -

Constructed in the 1930s to help its owner's duck farming business, the Big Duck was originally used as a shop to sell ducks and duck eggs. It nests in Flanders on Long Island, in New York

 

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Coffeepot-shaped drive-in -

A coffeepot-shaped drive-in restaurant near Los Angeles, pictured in 1939.

 

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Elephant building -

Bangkok's Elephant Building consists of three towers—the back and front legs of an elephant, and a trunk complete with eyes and tusks. It's one of the strangest examples of modern architecture in Thailand.

 

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Barkies sandwich shop -

Silent film actress Esther Ralston (1902–1994) stops for a snack at Barkies, a sandwich shop built in the form of a huge puppy in Hollywood.

 

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BMW Headquarters -

The BMW Tower in Munich, Germany is built to mimic the shape of four cylinders in a car engine, with the museum (foreground) representing a cylinder head.

 

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Chili bowl eatery -

An early 1940s eatery shaped like a chili bowl serving burgers, spaghetti, and other dishes to hungry passers-by near Los Angeles.

 

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Haines Shoe House -

The Haines Shoe House was built in 1948 as an advertising gimmick by "Colonel" Mahlon N. Haines, the self-styled shoe wizard of York, Pennsylvania. It still stands today.

 

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Guitar-shaped hotel -

The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Resort in South Florida is the world's first guitar-shaped accommodation.

 

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Brooks Catsup Bottle water tower -

Built in 1949 and trademarked "The World's Largest Catsup Bottle," the lofty landmark still stands south of Collinsville, in Illinois.

 

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Spittelau incinerator -

The Spittelau incinerator in Vienna, Austria is famous for its contemporary and colorful architecture representing a symbiosis of technology, ecology, and art.

 

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Zep Diner -

Two young women enter the Zep Diner, a diner shaped like a Zeppelin airship, in 1930's Los Angeles..

 

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Giant kiwifruit -

The enormous Kiwi360 stands as an attraction at the Te Puke Kiwifruit Center in New Zealand. One side of the Kiwi360 is green, and the other side is yellow.

 

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Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory -

The world's largest baseball bat is an architectural showpiece of the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory in Louisville, Kentucky.