Novelty architecture

The Longaberger Company headquarters in Newark, Ohio

Novelty architecture is a type of architecture in which buildings and other structures are given unusual shapes as a novelty, such as advertising, notoriety as a landmark, or simple eccentricity of the owner or architect. Many examples of novelty architecture take the form of buildings that resemble the products sold inside to attract drive-by customers. Others are attractions all by themselves, such as giant animals, fruits, and vegetables, or replicas of famous buildings. And others are merely unusual shapes or made of unusual building materials.

Some hotel casinos on the Las Vegas Strip can be considered novelty architecture, including the pyramid-shaped Luxor Hotel and the New York-New York Hotel & Casino, a building designed to look like the New York City skyline.

Novelty architecture is also used extensively in amusement parks such as Disneyland to fit their playful and sometimes retro theme.

Programmatic architecture

Programmatic (also known as mimetic or mimic) architecture is characterized by constructions in the forms of objects not normally associated with buildings, such as characters, animals, people or household objects. There may be an element of caricature or a cartoonish element associated with the architecture.

Lucy the Elephant, an architectural folly in Margate City, New Jersey
The Longaberger Company's head office in Newark, Ohio which is in the form of a giant basket

In the 1930s, as automobile travel became popular in the United States, one way of attracting motorists to a diner, coffee shop, or roadside attraction was to build the building in an unusual shape, especially the shape of the things sold there. "Mimic" architecture became a trend, and many roadside coffee shops were built in the shape of giant coffee pots; hot dog stands were built in the shape of giant hot dogs; and fruit stands were built in the shape of oranges or other fruit.

Tail o' the Pup, a hot dog-shaped hot dog stand in Los Angeles, California
Brown Derby, a derby-shaped restaurant
Bondurant's Pharmacy, a mortar-and-pestle pharmacy in Lexington, Kentucky

Water towers

File:GaffneySCPeachoidAtNight.jpg

Peachoid water tower in Gaffney, South Carolina

Water towers, often a prominent feature in a small town, have often been shaped or decorated to look like everyday objects.

Peachoid, a peach-shaped water tower in Gaffney, South Carolina. There are other peach-shaped water towers in Perry, Georgia and Clanton, Alabama
Teapot water tower in Lindstrom, Minnesota (see Gallery)
Corn cob water tower in Rochester, Minnesota (see Gallery)
Catsup bottle water tower in Collinsville, Illinois (see Gallery)
Paul Bunyan's Fishing Bobber water tower in Pequot Lakes, Minnesota (see Gallery)
Coffee pot water tower in Stanton, Iowa
Strawberry water tower in Poteet, Texas
Teapot water tower in Kingsburg, California

Storage tanks

Several breweries and other businesses have designed holding tanks in the shape of giant cans of beer or other containers.

"World's Largest Six-Pack" brewery holding tanks in La Crosse, Wisconsin
"World's Largest Hormel Chili Can" in Beloit, Wisconsin

Giant sculptures

Cleveland Airport is known for its fanciful giant "paper" aircraft sculptures.

Another aspect of novelty architecture is sculptures of ordinary items scaled to enormous size.

Various roadside parks and attractions in the U.S. feature giant sculptures of Paul Bunyan and dinosaurs.
Louisville Slugger Museum, a building in Louisville, Kentucky that features a giant baseball bat
Cleveland Airport, which includes giant "paper" aircraft in one terminal.
Cowboy boots at North Star Mall, San Antonio, Texas
Nut-shaped sculptures in at least two American cities, Brunswick, Missouri and Seguin, Texas are claimed to be "the world's largest pecan". [1] The Brunswick pecan is much larger and heavier, but the Seguin pecan is arguably more realistically rendered.
A giant rotating candy bar, reading "Curtiss Baby Ruth" on one side and "Curtis Butterfinger" on the other, at the former Curtiss Candy Company factory in Franklin Park, Illinois, since acquired (and redesigned) by Nestlé.
Gigantic baseball paraphernalia and other novelties, such as bats and gloves, team logos, "big apples", and even supersized Land O'Lakes milk bottles, at various baseball parks including Yankee Stadium, Comerica Park, AT&T Park, Anaheim Stadium, Kauffman Stadium, Shea Stadium, and the Metrodome.

Googie/populuxe architecture

Architecture popular in the 1950s-1960s in southern California and in Florida featured sharp corners, tilted roofs, starburst designs, and fanciful shapes. This came to be known as Googie or populuxe architecture.

Other

Long-established firms whose features are well-known could still qualify as novelty architecture. A couple of examples would be McDonald's original golden-arches design, originating in California as many of the novelty designs have; and the self-referencing design of the White Castle restaurants.

Deconstructivism

Some critics claim that much of today's contemporary architecture under the guise of Deconstructivism is actually Novelty architecture. Practioners include leading architects such as Frank Gehry, Daniel Libeskind and Zaha Hadid.