Word: mansion
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...everywhere in the enormous stage built for 007 films in London's Pinewood studios. You can even find Sean Connery dropping in to snack in the cafeteria. But recently a different action hero has set up residence. Major space on the lot was given to Croft Manor, a Victorian mansion decorated with grand staircases, stained-glass windows and prehistoric pottery. In one corner, there's a glass-walled computer room filled with a dozen flat, plasma screens that monitor the solar system. Beside them sits an evil-looking robotic biped that serves alternately as sophisticated jukebox and lethal assassin...
...scenes. Inexplicably, Snoop decided not to participate in those. He did, however, have a hand in casting the talent, which includes such notables as India, Obsession and Tony Eveready, and he graciously allowed the crew to film the actors as they copulated their way through his rural California mansion. Doggystyle was directed by Michael Martin, who oversaw Snoop's Still a G Thang video and Master P's Make em Say Uhh, both of which are more imaginative porn titles than Snoop Dogg's Doggystyle...
...pyramids and Hong Kong's sleek Bank of China building, that tradition is rooted at 25 Huangpi South Road, where five generations of the Pei family have made their home since 1911. During his student years in that rollicking city, the budding architect visited the graceful three-story mansion often and drew inspiration from its French colonial touches and lush gardens. "This house holds my family's soul," says Pei's cousin Bei Nianzheng, who was born in the house in 1956 and still lives there. "But now the government says they will tear it down because of urban development...
...family house sits where a manmade canal will meander through a grove of trees in a few months' time. Once, behind the mansion was an even more elaborate garden. But at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, the Peis were forced to move into the servants' quarters and donate the main house and grounds for a new middle school. Still, the Peis?many of whom had dispersed overseas?managed to keep the house's deed in their name. In 1979, Bei and her husband quietly moved back into the mansion. Over the years, they have slowly restored the house, peeling...
Even today, some cadres remain unconvinced by the mansion's art-deco touches. "I'm not sure the building has enough historical value to keep it from being demolished," sniffs He Bing, a park project manager. A blueprint of what Shanghai's new urban heart will look like in five months is taped above his head. On it, the Pei house is gone. The only building that emerges unscathed is a nondescript gray affair that once housed the office of a Communist Party magazine. "Now, that building has real history," says He. The Pei home may house a family...