In this image you can see the old wallpapered ceiling and the 2X4's used to maker a frame where the 'new' ceiling was put in.  This was most likely done back in the 1970's (the 2X4's are marked 'Hechingers') as a quick fix so the previous owners could rent this unit out without [putting too much cash or time into renovating.
You can also see where I ran some wiring to add on an extra ceiling light as the single fixture wasn't enough to make the room bright and cheerful.  The only bad part of this was spending four hours trying to figure out how to get the light switch's wiring to work.  It was all cross wired, but after getting zapped a few time I got it right.