Interior of a Saigon house nearly 100 years ago

Depending on the position of the owner, the interior of the old house is different. That is recorded in a number of articles, novels published in newspapers nearly 100 years ago.
The decoration in the residents’ house in the 1920s, 1930s, in old books and newspapers almost a hundred years ago East France Times newspaper, Nong ancient talk, Luc Tan Van province … already Women Tan Van, Saigon …, in advertising pages, long-term articles and novels, left some scattered details.

Novel Who made a mistake Author Tuan Anh in 1926 describes a house in Cho Don area (the area around the crossroads of Vo Van Tan – Cach Mang Thang Tam) as follows: “Like the other house in Cho Don, in the showroom cleaning and decorating. On the wall, there are locket-elk qualifications, and the ground is lined with a beautiful cotton carpet. That house divided into three rooms, in the bedroom with iron beds, velvet mattresses, embroidered pillows, silk (sheets). “Next to the dining room, in the middle of the table, there was a long table covered with pure white carpet. On either side of the wall there were two glass cabinets, one containing all kinds of western wine, the glass and dishes were all silver inlaid crystals. Eat. Any canned food, everything has “. “In the living room is full of embroidered chickens and chairs. In addition to the entrance door, there is a small chair for an ivory pair, the middle table has a copper vase with many kinds of delicate flowers, and the two sides of the cliff are stone-shaped, bronze, The statues of artifacts are considered very beautiful ”. This house with such dense furnishings, must be of the upper class, powerful or large merchant. Furniture influences the Western style of display, but is still oriental, sophisticated with cotton rugs, velvet mattresses, silk, silver-inlaid crystal cups. 1950s living room, furnished in antique style. Documentary photo of TG More pure, the residence of a writer, around the early 1930s on Espagne Street (now Le Thanh Ton). Here is the layout of the room: “Classic lamp (electric) lighting. The room was very neatly tidied, the two sides had a rocking chair, and one side had a typewriter. Outside, there is a polished ebony bench and a very beautiful pedicure chair. Standing (inside) inside, looking at the left wall is a picture of Saint Gandhi, the right hand side has a picture of Ton Dat Tien, in the middle is hanging a very large graphic and picture of Phan Tay Ho ”. To a girl’s house, not hers, but a gift from her lover, lying on Mac Mahon Street (now Nam Ky Khoi Nghia): “That house has two (two floors), divided into living room, bedroom, The dining room was very distinctive. In front of the house is a small, spilled yard, with a very beautiful cotton tub and some very beautiful ornamental pots. Behind the house is a garden, strangely cool … The grass is planted like a mattress, under the tree is a bench. Department of that house, the capital of a professor went to the West to sell for sixty thousand dong ”. To the house of a gangster girl on La Grande de la Liraye street (now Dien Bien Phu): “The house is very beautiful, with a bed of chickens, there are many Chinese paintings … The house passed another house. . Two or three little girls and an old woman gathered to pack her clothes, and brought water to wash her face. Also elegant, not so hustle and flashy. That is the home decoration scene before 1945 in Saigon by writer Buu Dinh described in the novel Fall Moon Fragment published in the newspaper Tan Van women number 83 in 1931.