6 Real Buildings That Look Impossible

Some buildings look as if gravity made an exception.

All six are real. It is the combination of structure and setting that makes each one look almost impossible.

🏰 King Alfred’s Tower — South Brewham, Somerset, England 🇬🇧

On Kingsettle Hill in South Brewham, King Alfred’s Tower is a triangular red-brick commemorative tower. Historic England’s Grade I listing dates it to 1766 and gives its height as about 40 metres, while the National Trust says Henry Flitcroft designed it for Henry Hoare II in 1772. In this photo, mist hides the base, making the tower seem to float above the trees.

💡 Nerd Fact: The tower’s internal spiral staircase has 205 steps and no passing places, so visitors travelling in opposite directions cannot pass one another inside.

🪨 Dar al-Hajar — Wadi Dhahr, Yemen 🇾🇪

Dar al-Hajar stands in Wadi Dhahr, around 14 kilometres northwest of Sana’a, rather than in the capital itself. Yemen’s submission to UNESCO’s Tentative List describes seven storeys integrated with the natural rock foundation. It says the current palace was rebuilt in the late 18th century on the orders of Imam al-Mansur Ali ibn al-Abbas, then restored in the early 20th century by Imam Yahya Hamid al-Din.

💡 Nerd Fact: A well descends 70 metres through the rock beneath the palace, with kitchens, mills and storage rooms arranged around it.

⛰️ Bivacco Buffa di Perrero — Monte Cristallo, Italy 🇮🇹

Cortina’s official route guide places this former military shelter at Forcella Padeon, 2,760 metres above sea level. It dates to 1915, was restored in 2022 and is named for Colonel Carlo Buffa di Perrero. Built into the cliff, it looks like a room cut straight from the mountain.

💡 Nerd Fact: The shelter had already been restored in 1972, but heavy snow later collapsed its roof and left it unusable for two years. Because the site can be reached only by the Ivano Dibona via ferrata or by helicopter, the ANA described the 2022 work as a mountaineering undertaking.

🪵 Eschif de Creyssac — Périgueux, France 🇫🇷

Official sources differ on its age: France’s heritage register dates the main construction to the 15th century, while the Périgueux tourist office dates it to the 14th century. The heritage register says it probably served as a lookout over the city entrance at the former Pont des Barris. At 9 boulevard Georges-Saumande, the half-timbered structure projects above and straddles the old rampart, supported by corbels and wooden braces.

💡 Nerd Fact: Despite its traditional names “Old Mill” and “Chapter Mill,” the Eschif never functioned as a mill. An eschif was generally a small, often temporary fortification built to defend the approach to a gate when time or resources did not permit a full tower.

🏡 Low-Energy House — Zell an der Mosel, Germany 🇩🇪

Architect Walter Andre’s project page identifies this as a low-energy house in Zell an der Mosel. Rathscheck’s project record dates construction from February 2008 to August 2010 and says its 270-square-metre roof uses 17 tonnes of Mosel slate laid in the Wilde Deckung technique. The slate follows the building’s rounded roof, dormers and chimney.

💡 Nerd Fact: Six roofers worked on the slate covering and changed positions every two hours so that no individual craftsperson’s “handwriting” would create a repeating pattern. The slates range from as much as 60 × 60 centimetres near the bottom to about 25 × 25 centimetres at the ridge.

⛪ Hallgrímskirkja — Reykjavík, Iceland 🇮🇸

At Hallgrímstorg 1 on Skólavörðuholt, Hallgrímskirkja is an Evangelical Lutheran parish church and national shrine. The church’s official history says Guðjón Samúelsson began designing it in 1937, construction began in 1945, and the church was consecrated in 1986. Its rising façade recalls columnar rock, Icelandic mountains and glaciers.

💡 Nerd Fact: A 1929 design competition required the church to hold 1,200 people and include a high tower that could be used for Iceland’s planned radio broadcasts. According to Hallgrímskirkja’s official history, the tower is still used by radio and telephone companies.

Which one is your favorite?