I'd be delighted to have a tiny cottage for my vacation home, but during the Gilded Age, people like the Astors and the Vanderbilts built lavish mansions in trendy Newport, Rhode Island. Today you can tour their homes and even spend the night in a few. Explore the mansions of Newport, Rhode Island >

^{Beechwood Mansion, photo © John W. Corbett}

July 9 is the birthday of postmodernist architect and designer Michael Graves. Borrowing heavily from the past, Graves became famous for whimsical buildings that incorporate classical details like columns and pediments. When asked to design the Team Disney Building in Burbank California, he created a classical facade with the Seven Dwarfs supporting the gable.

Michael Graves also became popular for designing products from teapots to pavilions for Target stores and various manufacturers. When a sudden illness left Michael Graves paralyzed from the waist down, he was faced with the ultimate challenge. Now confined to a wheelchair, Michael Graves combines his sophisticated and often whimsical approach to design with a deeper understanding of the importance of accessibility and universal design. Graves and the members of his firm are working on a variety of healthcare design projects.

^{Team Disney Building Photo © Mary Ann Sullivan, Digital Imaging Project}

July 8 is the birthday of Philip Johnson, designer of the legendary Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut. Known for his unconventional approaches to architecture, Johnson also designed the controversial AT&T Headquarters (now the Sony Building) in New York City.

^{Photo courtesy of the Pritzker Prize Committee}

Now that Michael Jackson is gone, questions are swirling around his former home and amusment park at Neverland Ranch.

Jackson had shut the place down a few years ago, saying that the police searches violated the beauty and innocence of his sanctuary. But now some say Neverland should become a shrine and tourist destination, like Graceland became for Elvis Presley.

What do you think? Tell us your dream for Neverland >

_{Photo above: Train station at Neverland Ranch, home of Michael Jackson in the Santa Ynez Valley, California. © Jason Kirk/Getty Images}

What's a skyscraper to do when it loses its rank as the world's tallest building? The owners of the Sears Tower in Chicago have added a daring new attraction: The Ledge.

Suspended 1,353 feet over the City, the Ledge is a series of glass boxes that jut 4.3 feet from the Sears Tower Skydeck. Visitors who are courageous enough to step onto the Ledge have the dizzy sensation of floating in mid-air.

More:

• Sears Tower's new 'Ledge' offers visitors far-out views, Chicago Sun Times
• Visiting the Sears Tower Skydeck

^{Photo: Children check out the view from the Ledge at the Sears Tower in Chicago, Illinois. © Scott Olson/Getty Images}

With majestic Greek pillars, balconies, formal ballrooms, and imposing staircases, America's Antebellum architecture stirs thoughts of Tara, the romantic plantation home in Gone With the Wind. But, Antebellum isn't actually style at all. So, what is Antebellum architecture?

^{Photo: Oak Alley Plantation is an Antebellum home in Louisiana. ArtToday.com}

On July 4, folks in the United States celebrate Independence Day with fireworks, picnics, and parades. No matter where you live, the noisy summer holiday is a good time to enjoy the stately (and, yes, imitative) architecture that evolved in the American colonies.

Borrowed from Britain, the dignified Georgian Colonial style took America by storm, followed by elegant American Federalist architecture. And then, drive through nearly any suburban neighborhood in the USA, and you are certain to see row after row of Colonial Revival and Neocolonial homes.

^{Photo: Neocolonial House, Clipart.com}

If you enjoy refined, dignified Adam homes, then you can thank the Scottish-born architect who inspired the style. Born in in 1728, Robert Adam and his brothers built many fine country homes in England. They paid attention to every detail, designing the furniture as well as the houses.

Robert Adam traveled to Italy and fell in love with classical, especially Roman, design. Robert Adam revolutionized English domestic architecture when he incorporated Roman refinements into austere Georgian style buildings.

Interestingly, the architectural ideas of Robert Adam flourished in New England after America declared its independence from Britain. Federal style buildings like the one shown here imitated the popular English homes Adam designed.

^{Image © 2000 ArtToday.com}

Those simple shotgun houses of New Orleans never looked so good. Urban planner Robert Tannen and architect Frank Gehry joined forces to create a new type of shotgun: the Modgun.

No glittering stips of twisted metal here! A Modgun combines down-to-earth shotgun functionality with modular construction techniques.

More:

• Frank Gehry's Rx for New Orleans, in Fast Company
• Modgun: Affordable, Sustainable, Compatible, in LiveGreenOrleans.com

July 1 is Canada Day, a time to celebrate all things Canadian. Top on my list? The soaring CN Tower in Toronto. Any way you measure it, the CN Tower is a remarkable structure and, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers, a Wonder of the Modern World.

Related: What Is the World's Tallest Building?

_{CN Tower Photo © Bill Wrigley / Getty Images}