In this age of homogenized subdivisions and strip malls, rarely does a new structure induce a double-take. But things weren't always like that, especially on the American roadside. The name of the game, of course, has always been catching the tourist's eye and, in many cases, bewildering the tourist's mind.

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Prabhupada's Palace of Gold in New Vrindaban, West Virginia.
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To be sure, many Americans never wanted that cozy little house on Main Street with the white picket fence. These mavericks wanted something entirely different -- a home that doubled as an affirmation of their individuality.

Maybe they coveted an over-the-top mansion they could keep expanding for the rest of their life, a perpetual work in progress. Or their bent might have involved construction materials from which nobody in their right mind would build a house.

Or the finished product could have been a Space Age-style image of the home of the future -- usually an off-the-mark prophecy of what 21st-century housing might come to look like, but certainly hasn't yet.

In this article, you'll read about diverse structures, including:

Florida
Solomon's Castle
Located in Florida, this unusual castle made from materials such as old printing plates, stands as a shining beacon to American creativity and ingenuity.

Georgia
Georgia Guidestones
This 19-foot-tall monument near Elberton, Georgia offers ten principles in eight different languages carved into its surface.

Illinois
Tower of Pisa
Balancing over Niles, Illinois, the replica of Italy's storied tower is also a reminder that Niles became a sister city to Pisa, Italy, in 1991.

Purple Martin House
The town of Griggsville, Illinois, built this dream birdhouse to help with the terrible mosquito problem plaguing the area.

World's Largest Catsup Bottle
A water tower in Collinsville, Illinois, does double-duty as a roadside attraction.

Kansas
Dorothy's House
Dorothy's House was designated in 1981 by the town of Liberal, Kansas, as the house of The Wizard of Oz's Dorothy Gale.

New Jersey
Lucy the Elephant
Originally built as a real estate promotion, Lucy the Elephant has since been a summer home, bar, and hotel.

New York
Big Duck
New York’s Big Duck was originally constructed to boost sales of Peking ducks by Martin Maurer and his wife.

Ontario
Cubes
These three cubes interconnect to create an apartment office building suspended atop a 15-foot column.

Tennessee
Eiffel Tower Replica
Constructed out of Douglas fir, steel rods, and hours of volunteer labor, the replica of France’s finest was a labor of love in Tennessee.

Nashville Parthenon
The Parthenon in Nashville was originally built for the Tennessee Centennial Exposition in 1897 and has been restored twice since then.

Texas
The Globe Theatre
English teacher Marjorie Morris was the first to suggest a replica of William Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in Texas. Her wish came true in 1961.

Leaning Tower of Texas
The owner of the Tower Fuel Stop shorted one of the legs of this water tower as an advertising ploy during the glory days of Route 66.

Orange Show Monument
The handiwork of postal worker Jefferson Davis McKissack, these monuments to the citrus fruit are a juicy oddity.

West Virginia
Prabhupada's Palace of Gold
Followers of the late Srila Prabhupada spent seven years constructing a palace for their leader, who spread the philosophy of Krishna consciousness through the West.

Wisconsin
House on the Rock
This architectural wonder was created in the 1940s by Alex Jordan, who eventually started charging visitors for tours of his unique house.

Many of the oddball buildings that dot the American roadside aren't actually residences, but offices, shops, museums, or reproductions of famed edifices on the other side of the world.

The thread that ties them all together? They stand out from everything else in the immediate vicinity. No matter when they were built, and no matter what their surroundings are, these one-of-a-kind architectural anomalies generally can't be pigeonholed as part of a broader movement. These buildings are in a category all by themselves.

By and large, the minds behind these structures never received a formal education in the traditions and tenets of architecture. Their vision comes from an entirely different plane of thought that owes more to fairy tales and comic books than academia.

Their motivation is usually the result of an obsessive drive that knows no middle ground, and formal study, thus, would only get in the way.

But this doesn't mean that their creations aren't true architectural gems. They are. In some ways, they outdo the more traditional buildings now renowned for their architectural importance, as excellent representations of a given style. But the American roadside's landmark buildings are usually one-of-a-kind, or something close to it.

Plus, it takes a ton of guts to go through the pricey process of building a house shaped like an elephant or a shoe, and the bank certainly won't be inclined to sign off on a mortgage -- not to mention that resale might be a bear. And you might alienate the neighbors forever.

Also, you're going to have to personally live with what you create -- every single day.

Not that these minuscule details deterred the owners, builders, and residents of the buildings featured in this chapter. They knew what they were getting into, listened to countless people advising them not to build anything of the sort, and then dove in headfirst.

Years later, they might still be hammering away, or else working on a new addition for the umpteenth time, but one thing remains constant: They still have the most recognizable place on the block.

A wonderful example of a work in progress is Solomon's Castle in Florida. Continue reading to learn about the evolution of this unusual home made from recycled materials.

Want to discover more family vacation destinations? See: