The villa with terraces and plants sits on top of a 12-story building in Wuhan. (Photo: CFP)
(ECNS) -- A two-story villa built on the roof of a residential building in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei province, was recently reported by local residents, according to Chutian Metropolis Daily.
The complex of wooden houses, terraces, trees, and ponds atop the 12-story building resembles a hanging garden from far away.
The villa's owner, surnamed Tang, said he had reconstructed the roof structure to prevent water leaks in his 12th-story apartment.
Tang had bought the whole top floor in 2006.
He added that the brick construction was part of an elevator shaft, and that he only put up wooden houses around the shaft and water tanks.
For his neighbors' leisure, he decorated the roof with terraces, small ponds and plants, he said. In addition, he furnished the wooden houses with desks and chairs, as well as a ping pong table.
Total decoration costs came to some 500,000 yuan ($81,330) according to Tang.
In response to complaints that he had made the public space private by locking it up, Tang explained the move was to prevent the leak-proof construction and plants from being destroyed, and that he has given keys to property management workers at the building. "Neighbors can use the roof at any time they want," he commented.
The local urban management department has yet to determine the villa's legality.
Tang said he had written approval from the building's management committee and the local neighborhood community to reconstruct the roof.
An urban management officer in Jiang'an District confirmed Tang's statement, saying his colleagues received a letter asking for permission in 2009, when villa construction had first started.
"Investigations at the time failed determine the original appearance of the roof, so its legality remains a mystery," the officer added.
Last year, an illegal two-story villa with a plants and rocks sitting on top of a 26-story building in Beijing was exposed by media. Demolition of the villa finally finished this August under orders by the urban managemernt bureau of Haidian District.
Beijing rooftop villa fully dismantled
2014-08-07Illegal villa exposed in Henan water conservation district
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