Can’t afford that home on the water? How about building a place out of water? Er, that is, a form of water.

Check out this extraordinary video that’s part of Dan Cruickshank’s fascinating Adventures in Architecture series. 

Gloucester, MA - Probably this site’s Homes on the Water category should be titled Houses We Covet. Here’s one I’ve admired for years:

Mansion McDreamy: The Birdcage House on Sherman Point

Perched on a rocky point overlooking Gloucester’s magnificent Good Harbor Beach, this house was built by Judge Edgar J. Sherman in 1878. It was actually bolted to the rocks to keep it from being swept away. Not sure if that’s in line with today’s building codes, but it’s kept house and cupola in its gorgeous location for years. The structure even withstood the 1938 hurricane.

There’s a great mention of it in the September 1891 Edition of The New England Magazine:

…the judge not only founded his house on the traditional rock but placed it so that a pebble might be dropped from the piazza into the restless surges directly below. Perched high above the ocean though it is, for it is nearly seventy feet at low water, the spray moistens the windows at times, and not infrequently an angry wave comes startlingly near the door.

Can you put a price on such a location and lovely structure? Well, sure. It was listed for sale last year at $8 million.