China Says Goodbye To Its Mysterious, Illegal High-Rise Fortress

China Says Goodbye To Its Mysterious, Illegal High-Rise Fortress

The luxurious “mountain villa” built atop a Beijing high-rise is being torn down. The $US4 million penthouse was built by a Chinese health care entrepreneur named Zhang Lin on the roof of an existing apartment building earlier this year, much to the chagrin of its party-pooper occupants.

To build his totally unregulated shangri-la, Lin’s construction team had installed extra steel beams along the facade of the existing building — theoretically offsetting the extra weight. But tenants below complained of burst pipes and cracked walls, and back in August, officials demanded that Lin demolish the structure. “Now I realise it was a huge mistake,” a forlorn Lin told the New York Times.

A mistake, maybe, but a glorious one. [The People’s Daily via Curbed]

China Says Goodbye To Its Mysterious, Illegal High-Rise Fortress

Pictures: The People’s Daily


The Cheapest NBN 50 Plans

It’s the most popular NBN speed in Australia for a reason. Here are the cheapest plans available.

At Gizmodo, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. BTW – prices are accurate and items in stock at the time of posting.