There are houses, and then there are houses clearly fit for a badass. I don’t know what it is about homes perched on top of cliffs (or literally built into one), but something about their style screams both Tony Stark and James Bond. Architects all over the world have taken on the challenge of building properties on waterfront cliffs and looming city hills with great success.
From way up above Los Angeles to incredibly terrifying cliffs in Australia, here’s nine cliff homes (and one town!) that are sheer architectural masterpieces. Now if only Tony Stark’s cliffside Malibu home in Iron Man was actually real…
THE STAHL HOUSE BY PIERRE KOENIG Los Angeles, California / Photo by Ryan Ward/Flickr
THE HOLMAN HOUSE BY DURBACH BLOCK Dover Heights, Sydney / Photo via Durbach Block Jaggers
THE ENTIRE TOWN OF MANAROLA La Spezia, Liguria, Italy / Photo by Tony Duckles/Flickr
THE LEONARD J. MALIN RESIDENCE BY JOHN LAUTNER Los Angeles, California / Photo by Jeremy Sternberg/Flickr
THE VILLA AMANZI BY ORIGINAL VISION STUDIO Cape Sol, Phuket, Thailand / Photo via Original-Vision
THE MONTE ROSA HUT Zermatt, Switzerland / Photo by twiga269/Flickr
SLAUGHTERHOUSE BEACH HOUSE BY OLSON KUNDIG Maui, Hawaii / Photo via Olson Kundig
X HOUSE BY CADAVAL & SOLA-MORALES Barcelona, Spain / Photo via Cadaval and Sola-Morales
FALL HOUSE BY FOUGERN ARCHITECTS Big Sur, California / Photo via F2 Architecture