JK Rowling to build Hogwarts-style tree houses

LONDON — J.K. Rowling is building two tree houses fit for a wizard.

Despite some complaints from neighbors, the City of Edinburgh Council said it has approved the Harry Potter author’s application to create the large tree houses in her garden for her children.

The structures, each about 40 feet (12 meters) high, feature tall conical roofs and turreted windows in the style of Hogwarts Castle in the Harry Potter movies.

Artist impressions submitted to the council show that they will be built on wooden stilts and are connected by a rope bridge. Other features included are lanterns above the doors, a spiral staircase, balconies, a trap door, and a steel slide.

Several neighbors had written to object, saying the tree-houses may be visible from the road through a gap in the conifers that shield the development and could affect the area’s landscape.

But the council granted Rowling’s request, saying the development will not have a negative impact on the conservation area.

Rowling, 47, lives in a 17th-century mansion in an Edinburgh suburb with her husband and three children.