For centuries, architectural marvels known as dovecotes were built to house the birds of the nobles. As you can see, you'd have had to be powerful and wealthy to obtain the rights to build these kind of pigeon coops on your property!
Pigeons were an immense passion and hobby for Romans, and typically the most powerful of men had these buildings constructed with marble powder coated roofing. Varro, Columella and Pliny the Elder wrote works on pigeon farms and dovecote construction. In the time of the Republic, the internal design of “pigeonholes was adapted for the purpose of disposing of cremated ashes after death: these columbaria were generally constructed underground.”
http://quazen.com/arts/architecture/whats-dovecote-to-do-with-it/
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by lannaxe96.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dovecote