These Spectacular Modern Houses Are Sure to Ignite Some Intense Zillowing (2024)

When architect Celeste Robbins discovered this 1956 house designed by architect Winston Elting, she knew it was the one for her. The home, which overlooks Lake Michigan, boasts views over the water, multiple fireplaces, and a generous open layout. “What I like about this particular house is its simplicity,” Robbins tells us. “It’s just a rectangle with intimate courtyards carved out of it.”

Think a modern home needs a flat roof? Think again! “A modern home is a fresh take on an old idea,” says Matt Berman of Workshop/APD. “We love to incorporate the historic gable form, stripping them down to their purest form, connecting them in a well-organized sequence, and adding lots of glazing.” Case in point, this stunning Hamptons residence that looks good from every angle.

Jenni Kayne—the queen of things of California cool and neutral—often escapes with her family to this breathtaking coastal retreat in New Zealand. The family tapped Auckland- and Los Angeles–based architect Jeff Fearon to design a series of timber-clad geometric volumes that hunkered down into the dunes, so as not to disrupt the surrounding vistas. Jenni, meanwhile, brought her cozy aesthetic to the interiors.

What do you do when your existing house can’t accommodate your favorite painting? If you’re this Los Angeles homeowner, you build an entirely new one. The client selected local firm Woods + Dangaran to build his dream residence, a modern, all-white vision with 12-foot-ceilings, plaster walls, and interiors by ELLE DECOR A-List firm Studio Mallone. Talk about pretty as a picture!

What’s solid as a rock but lighter than air? The Lauder family guest house in Long Island. After Hurricane Sandy destroyed their previous cottage, they tapped architect Michael Lomont, of the firm Stelle Lomont Rouhani, to build back better. Its simple rectilinear form is shielded by a sapele mahogany rain screen, which has weathered to blend in with the coastal landscape. “It’s just spectacular. It’s really this magical indoor-outdoor beach pavilion,” Aerin Lauder tells us. “It’s a jewel box—a jewel box in the dunes.”

This 1968 cabin, nestled on Maine’s Deer Isle, was designed by Emily Muir, an influential architect who designed a handful of modernist dwellings that dot the area. Humble materials and a simple silhouette allow the rugged beauty of the landscape to wash over its occupants. “It had me at the full glass front,” says homeowner Carolyn Evans. “But the fact that it also sits on a huge piece of granite that hangs over the water? You can slip into nature without disturbing it.”

Just because you have an older home doesn’t mean you can’t add modern elements. You just need to hire the right architect for the job. For instance, an 1890s Manhattan townhouse reached new heights thanks to Devin O’Neill of O’Neill Rose Architects. To contrast the house’s historic elements, the architect added a stunning top floor, all glass, angles, and views. “Overall it’s a piece of architecture,” O’Neill says. “But architecture can become art.”

This house started its life as a humble stone workers’ cottage in the early 1900s. But— as this renovation by San Antonio firm Lake | Flato proves—new and old can live side by side. A modern extension holds the kitchen and bedrooms, but our favorite part is the party-ready courtyard, which features a pool, pergola, and downtown views. “Giving something another chapter just makes it even more special,” architect Vicki Yuan says.

If you’re a fan of modern greats like Mies van der Rohe or Philip Johnson, this secluded dwelling in Amagansett, New York, will undoubtedly spark envy. The house was built by Richard Bender in 1960 to serve as a prototype for a Utopian community in the Hamptons. “I watched the seasons change that year,” says its current owner, designer Carol Egan, of her first months in the house. “It was an extraordinary experience. I had no idea I would ever live in a glass house.”

Tragedy caused this Montecito, California, couple to embrace modernity: their previous home, a Spanish Mediterranean style house, was wiped out during a 2017 wildfire. They turned to designer Jamie Bush and architecture firm Shubin Donaldson to build an ultraresilient—and ultrastylish—version in its place. Today, the house is covered in fire-resistant metal cladding, a move that grants both peace of mind and a sculptural presence. Says one of the homeowners: “We wanted to heed the lessons of nature by collaborating with the environment and our immediate surroundings.”

Amid Shingle Style neighbors, design firm Architecture Plus Information (A+I) created this linear Hamptons home. Poonam Khanna contributed sleek interiors to match. “Grey Gardens, it ain’t,” says A+I’s Brad Zizmor.

This stark progression of volumes might look straight out of Louis Khan’s playbook, but it was actually designed by architect Christina Seilern as a family vacation home on the Greek island of Pàros.

Lebanese architect Raëd Abillama created a coastal retreat of faceted volumes for his family. By locating the infinity pool at its base, the views out to the Mediterranean are virtually seamless.

This concrete monolith in the wilds of Argentina houses the vacation home of landscape architect Jenny Graham. “I believe the landscape should dictate what the architecture becomes,” she says of the residence. “We found a little barren zone on a hill where there wasn’t much wilderness to remove, and then the project just emerged.”

Late Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek’s swinging ’60s Beverly Hills home was artfully reimagined by architect and designer Luis Fernandez. He brought the home up to modern standards but was sure to maintain the original kidney-shaped pool.

Architects Silvio Rech and Lesley Carstens may live in Johannesburg, South Africa, but their ’50s home, designed by Eyvind Finsen, takes its design cues from California modernists like Richard Neutra.

You can’t beat an original and the New York City home of John and Christine Gachot takes the cake. This wild townhouse is an architectural icon, first serving as the home and studio of modernist legend Paul Rudolph and later as the ’70s party den of fashion designer Halston.

Modern architecture is typically associated with cool objectivity, but the clients for this Palm Springs residence wanted something warmer. They tapped Sean Lockyer, the founder of Studio AR&D, to create a dwelling that married a flat roof and sculptural lines with cozy wood-clad interiors.

Modern gets beachy in the midcentury residence of interior designer Caroline Rafferty, one of only a handful in Palm Beach, Florida. The house, she says, was “simple enough that it didn’t demand one distinct style of decorations.”