Sold Date: January 2, 2016
Start Date: December 26, 2015
Final Price: £17.49 (GBP)
Bid Count: 2
Seller Feedback: 3244
Buyer Feedback: 97

 ‎– Houses Of The Holy Label:  ‎– K 50014,  Format: , LP, Album, Gatefold 
Country: Released: Genre: Style: Tracklist A1The Song Remains The Same5:24A2The Rain Song Mellotron –  6:32A3Over The Hills And Far Away4:06A4The Crunge Synthesizer –  3:52B1Dancing Days Organ –  3:40B2D'yer Mak'er Piano –  4:18B3No Quarter Grand Piano, Synthesizer, Bass [Synthesised] –  6:52B4The Ocean Backing Vocals – *, *, * 4:16 Companies, etc. Phonographic Copyright (p) –  Copyright (c) –  Recorded At –  Recorded At –  Published By –  Published By –  Distributed By –  Printed By –  Mastered At –  Credits Bass –  Design [Sleeve] –  Drums –  Engineer – , ,  Executive-Producer –  Guitar –  Mastered By – * Producer –  Vocals – 
The cover art for Houses of the Holy was inspired by the ending of Arthur C. Clarke's novel Childhood's End. The cover is a collage of several photographs which were taken at the Giant's Causeway, Northern Ireland, by Aubrey Powell of Hipgnosis. This location was chosen ahead of an alternative one in Peru which was being considered. 

The two children who modelled for the cover were siblings Stefan and Samantha Gates. The photoshoot was a frustrating affair over the course of ten days. Shooting was done first thing in the morning and at sunset in order to capture the light at dawn and dusk, but the desired effect was never achieved due to constant rain and clouds. The photos of the two children were taken in black and white and were multi-printed to create the effect of 11 individuals that can be seen on the album cover. The results of the shoot were less than satisfactory, but some accidental tinting effects in post-production created an unexpectedly striking album cover. The inner sleeve photograph was taken at Dunluce Castle near to the Causeway. 

Like Led Zeppelin's fourth album, neither the band's name nor the album title was printed on the sleeve. However, manager Peter Grant did allow Atlantic Records to add a wrap-around paper title band to US and UK copies of the sleeve that had to be broken or slid off to access the record. This hid the children's buttocks from general display, but still the album was either banned or unavailable in some parts of the Southern United States for several years. 

In 1974, the album was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of best album package. The cover was rated 6 on VH1's 50 Greatest Album Covers in 2003. 

Page has stated that the album cover was the second version submitted by Hipgnosis. The first, by artist Storm Thorgerson, featured an electric green tennis court with a tennis racquet on it. Furious that Thorgerson was implying their music sounded like a "racket", the band fired him and hired Powell in his place. 

The album art was referenced towards the end of the movie Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure as the title characters used the album as a reference for the types of places they had visited during their travels in the story: "We visited many places that looked like the cover of the album "Houses of the Holy".