Year in Curbed 2014: The Hands-Down Most Beautiful Houses for Sale in 2014

When one looks at thousands of houses over the course of a year, poring over listing photo galleries with almost Talmudic concentration, they can begin to run together. Then there are homes that stand out, often for all the wrong reasons, but occasionally for good ones: excellent decor, riveting architecture, or something hard to define that we'll just go ahead and call "soul." Here are the most beautiful U.S. homes put on the market in 2014; not necessarily the biggest, or the grandest, or the most expensive, but the ones that stuck with us.

A short run-down of our qualifications: said homes had to be beautiful and well-photographed inside and out (see the honorable mentions for homes that failed either category but were still quite nice). Only detached homes were considered, which means we left apartments, condos, and townhouses off the table, and didn't touch anything in New York City, which is just as well, because our colleagues at Curbed NY came up with this awesome list.

Location: Austin, Texas Price: $4,500,000 A home that has received multiple additions from differing architects over the course of 35 years has no right to expect to remain a cohesive, pleasing whole, but this Austin showpiece manages the trick, in no small part because of the excellent landscaping by owners James David and Gary Peese.

Location: Los Angeles, California Sold For: $6,250,000 Gah, Andy Samberg and Joanna Newsom's new(ish) home. They bought Moorcrestthe famed 1920s house where Mary Astor and Charlie Chaplin once livedin an off-market deal, so technically it shouldn't even be on this list. Whatever, what a dream palace, here it shall stay.

Location: Rancho Mirage, California Price: $2,300,000 This landmarked example of what one Curbed commenter called "pristine MCM at its classiest and finest" was commissioned by pioneering radiology cancer surgeon Henry L. Jaffe from architect William F. Cody, on land he bought from his patient, Groucho Marx.

Location: Palm Springs, California Price: $2,195,000 Clark Gable's all-pink Palm Springs home is almost as studly as he was.

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Year in Curbed 2014: The Hands-Down Most Beautiful Houses for Sale in 2014