Skip to main content
Find anything you save across the site in your account
To revisit this article, select My Account, thenView saved stories
Find anything you save across the site in your account
To revisit this article, select My Account, thenView saved stories
Architecture
From a Beverly Hills home to a 500-year-old thatched roof cottage, don’t be surprised if you find Snow White answering the door at one of these properties
By Katherine McLaughlin
Though fit for woodland creatures and princesses, these homes were made for real people.Photo: Anna Gorin/Getty Images
Fairytale houses are really a question of the chicken or the egg. Was it whimsical and slightly off-kilter homes that inspired the homes seen in storybooks, or was it the books that brought the homes to existence? The answer might be a mixture of both. Many of the architectural elements we associate with homes seen in fairytales—thatched roofs, natural stone façades, or asymmetrical dormers and windows—aren’t new things. In fact, they’re quite old, and many date back to the 18th or 19th century. Animators and illustrators are well-known to pull from historic architecture, often adding fantastical elements to infuse a little more magic into the depictions, so it’s not surprising that Snow White’s home looks, in many ways, like a charming English cottage from the Regency countryside.
However, something peculiar happened in the early 1920s. Architects, particularly in California and England, started designing homes based on the ones seen in fairytales. Without any specific characteristics, homes started popping up with cobblestone paths, intentionally uneven roofs, and irregular-shaped doors and windows, seemingly bringing the over exaggerated architectural details added to illustrations into the real world. Slowly, homes in this style were given an (extremely appropriate) name: storybook houses. Though not overwhelmingly common, homes in this style can still be seen all around the world. Below, AD rounds up the most charming examples of storybook architecture and other homes that look like they came straight out from your favorite fairytale.
Most Popular
Celebrity Style
Usher’s Homes: A Look Inside the Musician’s Epic PropertiesBy Joyce Chen
Magazine
Inside Ryan Murphy’s Rule-Breaking Redo of an Iconic Midcentury House in LABy Ryan Murphy
Architecture + Design
Three Multimillion Dollar Homes on a Cliff Appear at Risk of Falling Into the OceanBy Katherine McLaughlin
Most Popular
Celebrity Style
Usher’s Homes: A Look Inside the Musician’s Epic PropertiesBy Joyce Chen
Magazine
Inside Ryan Murphy’s Rule-Breaking Redo of an Iconic Midcentury House in LABy Ryan Murphy
Architecture + Design
Three Multimillion Dollar Homes on a Cliff Appear at Risk of Falling Into the OceanBy Katherine McLaughlin
Most Popular
Celebrity Style
Usher’s Homes: A Look Inside the Musician’s Epic PropertiesBy Joyce Chen
Magazine
Inside Ryan Murphy’s Rule-Breaking Redo of an Iconic Midcentury House in LABy Ryan Murphy
Architecture + Design
Three Multimillion Dollar Homes on a Cliff Appear at Risk of Falling Into the OceanBy Katherine McLaughlin
Most Popular
Celebrity Style
Usher’s Homes: A Look Inside the Musician’s Epic PropertiesBy Joyce Chen
Magazine
Inside Ryan Murphy’s Rule-Breaking Redo of an Iconic Midcentury House in LABy Ryan Murphy
Architecture + Design
Three Multimillion Dollar Homes on a Cliff Appear at Risk of Falling Into the OceanBy Katherine McLaughlin
Most Popular
Celebrity Style
Usher’s Homes: A Look Inside the Musician’s Epic PropertiesBy Joyce Chen
Magazine
Inside Ryan Murphy’s Rule-Breaking Redo of an Iconic Midcentury House in LABy Ryan Murphy
Architecture + Design
Three Multimillion Dollar Homes on a Cliff Appear at Risk of Falling Into the OceanBy Katherine McLaughlin
Most Popular
Celebrity Style
Usher’s Homes: A Look Inside the Musician’s Epic PropertiesBy Joyce Chen
Magazine
Inside Ryan Murphy’s Rule-Breaking Redo of an Iconic Midcentury House in LABy Ryan Murphy
Architecture + Design
Three Multimillion Dollar Homes on a Cliff Appear at Risk of Falling Into the OceanBy Katherine McLaughlin
Architecture + Design
Inside an Incredible Ode to Bhutanese Design in the Colorado MountainsThe owners worked with a skillful team to create a unique representation of the Buddhist kingdom some 7,500 miles away
By Tshering Yangzom
Architecture + Design
Tour a Park Slope, Brooklyn, Home That’s Filled With Midcentury TreasuresAnd yet, somehow, comfort reigns supreme
By Sarah Lyon
Shopping
59 Best Airbnbs Across the United States (2024)Discover the most unique Airbnbs the country has to offer, from tiny homes to a converted boxcar, yurts, and even a castle
By Kristi Kellogg
Architecture + Design
Inside an Exceptional Dallas Home That’s Filled With Antiques and Vibrant HuesThe Highland Park abode is just as colorful as its owner’s children’s clothing brand
By Sarah Lyon
