The tale of a strong-willed woman who stood her ground when the commercial world came rumbling in.

See the computer’s history revealed over the course of 20,000 years.

Extraordinary sculpture garden created by an eccentric English poet.

Two stunning 17th-century libraries and a cabinet of curiosities.

Macabre astrological automaton clock dating to the late 1400s.

The history of occult science is turned into a creepshow at this lurid Prague tourist attraction.

The spiral staircase hidden inside this giant Parisian column was likely built for Catherine de Medici's astrologer.

An off-the-beaten-path boutique stuffed with an eclectic collection of upcycled goods.

This off-limits room in the National Library of France is home to a system of pneumatic tubes, once used to bring books to readers.

A modern-day Lascaux cave underneath Paris.

The history of radiation is on safe display at the foot of a radiation science laboratory.

This Parisian café sticks almost exclusively to an ethos of reuse.

This iconic Parisian bookstore doubles as the "Tumbleweed Hotel" for traveling writers.

The oldest stone house in Paris was built by its most famous alchemist.

This 1960s kinetic artwork has been restored and is once again whirling away in downtown Minneapolis.

A museum dedicated to the exploring past, present, and future innovations.

20,000 pieces in a Frank Gehry-designed building.

This lab's maddening silence is good for business but bad for sanity.

An architecturally-focused antique shop.

An architectural oddity of six stories, accessed by graceful ramps.

This historic London residence was once the womb of Scientology.

It is still illegal to "quarrel" at this unlikely urban oasis built on top of an electrical substation.

This unique Seattle structure was designed to be the greenest commercial building on the planet.

Always a new use for this old building.