Shanghai house in road torn down after 14-year battle

A three-story house that had been standing alone in the middle of an arterial road in Shanghai's suburban Songjiang district was torn down in the early morning on Monday after a 14-year dispute.

Old residential houses surrounding the building were torn down several years ago to widen North Huting Road to four lanes.

The owners of the house - known as a nailhouse, which describes a building whose owners hold out against developers - didn't reach an agreement for compensation with the relocation authority. So the four lanes, two in each direction, had to be reduced to two lanes to go around the structure.