It’s fun to dress up for Treat-or-Treating and pretend you’re someone else for an evening. But did you know there are also some weird and wacky buildings that look like something else, too?

Check them out!

The Basket Building – Newark, Ohio

You guessed it! It’s shaped like a picnic basket.

Why? Because Dave Longaberger made a fortune crafting this traditional maple-wood party basket.

By December of 1997, his humble little basket had made him $30,000,000 richer. So, Mr. Longaberger decided to build his corporate headquarters in the shape of this memorial basket. Seven-stories high and 180,000 square feet of flooring completed the project.

In time, basket sales dwindled and the building was sold in 2017.

But it stands in Newark, Ohio, a tribute and novel sight to all who have ever packed the basket with fried chicken and potato salad, spread a cloth, and sat by the side of a river on a sunny day.

The Shoe House – York, Pennsylvania

Mahlon Haines, a successful and clever shoe salesman thought of a way to advertise his wares by building a house in the shape of a boot.

Construction began in 1948. The house, five stories and 25 feet high, also had a shoe-shaped doghouse with it. (We’re not making this stuff up!).

The house was variously used as a tourist attraction or rented out to people who wanted to live in the heel or toe of a shoe.

Finally, the house was re-sold (often times) and the latest word is that there is an ‘ice-cream shop’ in the ‘sole’ of it.

The Teapot House – Meitan Tea Museum – Meitan, China

Famous for their Chinese green tea, it seemed only reasonable that the people of Meitan would erect a structure in the shape of a giant teapot to display the history of green tea. 

The museum is 243 feet high and 79 feet in diameter. This remarkable building holds The Guiness Book of World Records for the biggest teapot-shaped structure in the world. Huge, red, and many-windowed, the beautiful structure, looms on the landscape as a tribute and a considerable attraction to the region. 

Of course, next to it is a giant teacup, in case Godzilla drops in for tea.

That’s it for now, kids. Don’t miss the next Weird and Wacky Buildings going up in your Smarty Pants Structures’ section.

Do you live in a weird house? Tell us about it in the comments section. Want to see more weird structures? Click here.