But a distinct and dramatic subset aims to underscore local culture, be it pagoda-style architecture at the new Four Seasons in Hangzhou, China, wok-manning cooks in the market-inspired Six Senses Con Dao in Vietnam or vernacular town house design at the Hotel Kanra in Kyoto, Japan.
Before the war, when it hung in a pagoda, it used to be rung every evening at sundown, when the gates closed for the night.
The map listed no place names, but it marked a pagoda near the Lou Guan Tai temple, calling it "Da Qin," one of whose meanings is "from the Roman Empire".
Reading made a really smart decision when it built that pagoda in 1908.
In general, buyers must pay a stamp duty ranging from 1 to 7 percent (on the Pagoda it would be 7 percent), along with about $3,000 in other fees.
In 1927, the Kongō underwent major modifications to her superstructure, rebuilding it into the pagoda mast style to accommodate the growing number of fire-control systems for her main guns.
Until recently, however, except for its London plane trees and Japanese pagoda trees, it looked more like a boomerang-shaped, half-acre wedge in the road.
Mr. Kahl's dream is to re-create Luna Park, one of Coney Island's first amusement parks, as it stood in 1914 at the height of its glory, with its ersatz pagodas, Hindu temples, Japanese gardens and Venetian canal.
With its slanted tiers of black wood, it looks like a pagoda made of dark chocolate.
High above it stands the Tsen pagoda, built on the orders of Chiang-Kai-shek, the nationalist politician who became China's nominal leader in 1926.
Who would dream of planting yew and turning it into a Chinese pagoda?" The garden is a palette of greens, with relatively few flowers, Mr. Hoyland said, built on four basic plants: yew, hornbeam, box and lime trees.
