Sanzhi UFO houses
former resort building in New Taipei
The Sanzhi UFO Houses (Chinese: 三芝飛碟屋; pinyin: Sānzhī Fēidiéwū), also known as the UFO houses of Sanjhih, Sanjhih pod houses or Sanjhih Pod City, were a set of abandoned and never-completed pod-shaped buildings in Sanzhi District, New Taipei, Taiwan. The buildings resembled Futuro houses, some examples of which can be found elsewhere in Taiwan. The site where the buildings were located was owned by Hung Kuo Group.
Construction and abandonment
The UFO houses were constructed beginning in 1978. They were intended as a vacation resort in a part of the northern coast adjacent to Tamsui, and were marketed towards U.S. military officers coming from their East Asian postings. However, the project was abandoned in 1980 due to investment losses as well as several car accident deaths and suicides during construction, which is thought to have been caused by the inauspicious act of bisecting the Chinese dragon sculpture located near the resort gates for widening the road to the buildings. Other stories indicated that the site was the former burial ground for Dutch soldiers.
The pod-like buildings became a minor tourist attraction due in part to their unusual architecture. The structures became the subject of a film, used as a location by MTV for cinematography, and became a subject in online discussions, described as a ghost town or "ruins of the future".
Demolition
The buildings were scheduled to be torn down in late 2008, despite an online petition to retain at least one of the structures as a museum.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Sanzhi UFO houses” as former resort building in New Taipei. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as former resort building in New Taipei. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q704502. Authority coordinates are 25.261, 121.478. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1978, 1980 and 2008.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Sanzhi UFO houses”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Sanzhi UFO houses primary sources, Sanzhi UFO houses archive and Sanzhi research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Sanzhi UFO houses”?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Sanzhi UFO houses” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.