North America

Possibly the greatest basketball player of all time, Michael Jordan's 29,000-square-foot estate near Chicago features a basketball court (of course) as well as a tennis court and putting green. Loads more info and pictures here. Bill Gates' 40,000-square-foot mansion in…

In 1924 this former coral rock quarry near Miami was transformed into Coral Gables Venetian Pool, complete with cascading waterfalls, coral rock caves and a palm-fringed island. Apparently it is the only pool in the US to be included in…

It seems that the reservoir of the Taum Sauk pumped storage plant in Missouri burst today. The reservoir sits on top of Proffit Mountain, some 800 feet above the hydroelectric plant, and when a section of the reservoir collapsed, it…

This is San Francisco's popular tourist spot, Pier 39, and covering nearly every square inch of those floating docks in the harbour are hundreds upon hundreds of sea lions. The light coloured patch in the middle-left is the only bit…

This is the utterly bizarre-looking Marin Civic Center in San Rafael, Califoria. Designed by America's most famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright (although it wasn't completed until after his death in 1959), the building featured in George Lucas' other movie, THX-1138,…

You can see the Watts Towers in the centre of our thumbnail with shadows extending to the north. Compared to some of the towers we've previously featured, they look a bit, well, crap. However, those other towers are all constructed…