We love houses here at Wallpaper*, and we strive to spotlight only the best architectural gems from around the world. Every day, the team is presented with a portfolio of boundary-pushing residences, which span the spectrum of modern design. Here, we bring together a selection of those that impressed us the most each month.
This month’s finds include a few listings: The Stahl House – one of LA's most famous midcentury homes, still hasn’t found a buyer; Sylvan Rock, designed by S3 Architecture with Aston Martin; and a Ventura Beach house that could also be yours. Other projects include a residence shaped like an avocado in the Californian desert and a charming Victorian townhouse in London. Here are the best new house stories of October 2026.
The stunning Stahl House for sale
Pierre Koenig’s Stahl House, a midcentury modernist landmark in Los Angeles, languishes on the market despite a $5 million discount. Now at $20 million, buyers still hesitate: its two-bedroom, 2,200-square-foot floor plan is remarkably modest for the price tag. Compounding the challenge, building alterations are prohibited, and demanding maintenance required for ageing materials makes preserving architectural history a costly, labour-intensive proposition. Whether or not the discount will compel the right buyer to make a move remains to be seen. But one thing’s for sure: they’ll be owning a piece of America’s architectural history.
A spooky ‘Verity’ House
Beyond its erotic plot, Michael Showalter’s psychological thriller Verity lures design aficionados with an architectural rarity: a secluded lakeside retreat. The Armonk residence was originally built in the 1960s by Danish designer Jens Quistgaard for Dansk's founders. One of its defining features is its evocative, jagged sawtooth roof. Production designer Amy Williams channelled Quistgaard’s midcentury modernist designs for the sets, layering brutalist furnishings, custom woodwork, and Dansk artefacts into a menacing domestic stage.
An avocado home
Architect Arshia Mahmoodi’s newly unveiled Avocado House translates a minimalist geometry of three intersecting circles into a striking hillside sanctuary. Perched above California’s Yucca Valley, the residence is shaped around a central crescent courtyard that forms its namesake 'pit'. The curved retreat captures panoramic desert vistas from its sculptural framework.
A quiet Victorian townhouse redesign
Architecture for London has sensitively reunited two divided flats into a single Victorian family residence. Located in Kentish Town, the house is designed to prioritise quiet refinement over dramatic overhaul. The reconfiguration pairs restored period elements with the clients’ midcentury furniture collection. A light-filled Shaker-style kitchen, anchored by reclaimed brick and exposed timbers, forms the heart of this unfussy home.
A green ceramic extension
In Brockley, south-east London, Bolans Architects has transformed a Victorian terraced home, saving its boldest design statement for the rear garden. Named Ceramic House, the project features a playful yet sophisticated green ceramic façade crafted from arches, recesses, and shifting planes. Beyond the glazed extension, the refurbishment reconfigures the ground floor to create space for a cosy loft conversion.
A minimalist Melbourne house
Casa Piva is a minimalist residence offering privacy and seclusion. Found in suburban Malvern East, Melbourne, B.E. Architecture has crafted the residence to be a serene cocoon for practice director Andrew Piva and his family. An austere white-brick façade conceals a series of hidden courtyards and tactile communal spaces. Rich interior layers of travertine, brick, and antique oak joinery nod to the owners’ Italian heritage.
An Eichler House could be yours
The celebrated Eichler X-100 in Northern California is seeking a new custodian. Conceived by developer Joseph Eichler alongside architects A. Quincy Jones and Frederick Emmons, the steel-framed residence was designed as a living laboratory for postwar modernism. Restored to its 1956 glory, the 2,310-square-foot home integrates interior gardens, expansive glass, and Santa Cruz Mountain vistas.
An Aston Martin-branded home
Set across a 55-acre Hudson Valley estate, Sylvan Rock is the first private single residence designed in collaboration with Aston Martin and S3 Architecture. Defined by a jagged, blackened-cedar and faceted-metal roofline snaking around a rocky ledge, the compound features bespoke Aston Martin-designed furnishings, a subterranean automotive gallery, three guest pods, and an architect-designed treehouse. It is now listed for $19.5 million.
A monolithic Ahmedabad house
Architecture studio FLXBL has completed Solidus, a residence crafted through the progressive subtraction of a monolithic concrete volume. In Ahmedabad, India, the shuttered-concrete form is punctured by courtyards and carved-out terraces that add native vegetation across every level. Inside, stone floors and a brick spine wall balance monumental scale with shaded, microclimate-moderating spaces.
A Ventura Beach house
Architect Carl Maston’s 1984 Susman House in California’s Faria Beach Colony has hit the open market for the first time, listed at $5.1 million. Overlooking a renowned surf spot, Mondo’s Cove, the residence channels the rustic spirit of classic coastal cabins into late-period modernism. The residence boasts cedar cladding and exposed brick fireplaces, and frames 240-degree panoramic Pacific views.
A geometric Thai home
Khao Yai Mountain Grounded Villa is a crisp white family retreat in northeastern Thailand. Designed by HAS Design and Research, the residence features a distinctive zig-zag roof that mirrors the local mountain ridges and traditional shadow puppets. Through natural ventilation and rainwater harvesting, the contemporary, open-plan home maintains a comfortable climate without air conditioning. Cultural heritage sits neatly within modern design.
A Nigerian lagoon house
Perched on Ikaare Island off the Lagos lagoon is OA House, a four-bedroom retreat. Architect Tosin Oshinowo spearheaded the project, which features sculptural, matte off-white volumes and timber flooring. The redience is defined by its minimalism, which frames the Atlantic Ocean. An open, breezy pavilion living space and swimming pool deck maximise sea views, while ground-floor and terraced upper bedrooms provide serene, private sanctuaries.