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Of Course There's a Mountain Villa Atop a Beijing Apartment

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Here's a rooftop house to blow all other dwellings-on-top-of-dwellings out of the water: an industrious fellow in—where else?—Beijing, China has built a hillside-embedded, two-story chateau on top of a suburban apartment building, a 26th-floor spread complete with a mountain-side garden and a mountain of safety concerns. In 2007, the owner, "known only as Professor Zhang," The Telegraph writes, knocked down his penthouse and built a full-blown palace, one local officals told The Beijing Morning Post was "definitely illegal."

Neighbors, of course, are none-to-pleased, citing concerns about noise, leaks, and safety risks. "Obviously the first concern ... is the increased structural load that has been placed on the building," Paul Gerard, a property litigator, told The Telegraph. "It does look like quite a lot of tonnage has been put up without any reinforcements." Awesome-looking? Yes, but it seems it's not long for this world, as the city is cracking down on illegal add-ons, which can be "extremely unsafe," the paper writes.
· Beijing Man Builds 'Mountain Palace' on Top of Apartment Block [The Telegraph]