The New York Times examines pockets of tranquility in the heart of New York City. Neighborhoods such as Pomander Walk (pictured here), a hidden street on the Upper West Side, are nearly invisible to passersby. In fact, because delivery people could never find the street, residents renamed it to a more delivery friendly 265 West 94th Street.View full image.

The properties on these streets tend to be small, and many have been carefully restored to recall a bygone era. They rarely come up for sale, but when they do, they can command hefty premiums.

“You almost never see these kinds of properties come on the market, because the people who move into them almost never move out,” said Beverly Sonnenborn, an agent with Sotheby’s International Realty who specializes in properties in Greenwich Village, where many of these historic properties exist.

• Searching for New York’s Hidden Places
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The unashamedly boxy lake front house by British developer Yoo is one of 160 homes to be built overlooking seven lakes in the Cotswolds. The development is marketed at London residents in need of a home in the country. The glass-fronted residences offer sweeping views of the lake and are built in Slovenia of Russian wood. View full image.

"The Cotswolds are definitely changing and their image is being raised," says Yoo's co-founder John Hitchcox, who used to be a co-owner of the Manhattan Loft Corporation. "It is a design-orientated residential project. I wanted to build an environment where urbanites can come to the country." There is a host of celebrity designers working on the project: Phillipe Starck is Yoo's co-founder, while Sophie Conran, daughter of Sir Terence, and Jade Jagger were enlisted to design furnishings and interiors.

• Property in the Cotswolds: Contemporary class
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• The Lakes by Yoo

This weekend home on Lake Aylmer, east of Montreal, is built from storage containers. Designed by architect Pierre Morency, the home is built on a concrete foundation. Horizontal hemlock screens pull the three stacked tubes together into a single visual unit. The ground floor is made of two containers. One contains a kitchen and dining area, while the other holds the living room. An overhead container holds a bedroom and bathroom. A basement contains a utility area, guest bedroom and a bathroom. View large image.
• Container Cottage
• Pierre Morency

1959. Recreation pavilion at the Mirman residence in Arcadia, California. Architects: Buff, Straub & Hensman. View full size. Kodachrome transparency by Julius Shulman.

The Airship Series home by Aero 11 Design in Redwood City, California, is a modular house that merges indoors and outdoors with large sliding glass doors. The unit has cedar siding, interior birch paneling, two bedrooms, a sleeping loft, one bathroom and a combined kitchen and living space.
• Aero 11 Design

A photo gallery of the lighthouses of Iceland. View full image. (Via Materialicious.)

This 19,000 square foot villa sits on 12 acres on Lake Sheen in southwest Orlando. Glass walls of the owners suite open onto a private pool with a waterfall and a tiki hut (shown here). A dock house on the lake features a huge deck and interior space for entertaining.

In addition to the main house, four additional homes are in the compound for family, guests and staff. All five properties combined are 32,000 square feet. The owner's mansion can be purchased separately for $14 million.
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• Photo gallery

• Tiger Woods's $38 Million Tear Down. Tiger has torn down his 13-year-old mansion (photo above) to create a new and more grand home. Tiger Woods flattens his Florida estate
• Actress Tara Reid lists her condo for $885K. Reid’s one-bedroom unit in the Hollywood Versailles Tower at 7135 Hollywood Boulevard has 1,087-square-feet. Tara Reid, Live at the Hollywood Versailles | Listing
• The Abbreviated House of Carnie Wilson. Singer Carnie Wilson lists her house for $2,325,00.
• David James Elliott and Nanci Chambers sell house for $3.05M. The 3,276-square-foot house of the husband-and-wife actors is in Los Angeles’ Brentwood area.

This sophisticated penthouse loft overlooks the Hudson River in Greenwich Village. The loft at 304 Spring Street features a private elevator, double-height living room, private terrace and a 1,200 square foot roof-top garden with an outdoor shower and kitchen. View full image.
• Asking Price: $9,250,000
• Bedrooms: 3
• Bathrooms: 3
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• Listing

The just completed Project7Ten house in Venice, Calif., is a LEED certified house that shows off the latest in environmentally friendly conventional construction. The house feature solar panels, gray water recycling, bamboo flooring, Energy Star appliances, locally available green materials and radiant heating.
• The Real Green Deal
• Project7Ten Green House Completed in LA
• 710 Millwood Avenue