The millionaire in question, Mauricio Fernández Garza made his fortune selling beer and petrochemicals, which facilitated the collection of art and ancient fossils now valued at around $120 million. Garza was the three-time mayor of the tony Monterrey suburb where the house is located when plans to use public funding to fund up to 60% of what is essentially a vanity project. Garza’s original plan cost around $18 million before being reduced in scope to around $9.7 by new mayor Miguel Treviño, who defeated him in his latest bid for the position. 

The mansion is named after a character in literature and was itself the apparent subject of a 2008 book about its owner’s transformative effort to mold a private residence to his liking. The result of that process is now being dismantled and reinstalled in a large public park nearby — including four 14th and 16th-century ceilings totaling $50 million acquired in a deal with his successor.