Villa related to King Bao Dai in Ngoc Ha, Hanoi: The original value is not much

Previously, the people of the capital seemed to hear only about the only villa in which King Bao Dai lived in Hanoi for a short time, at 51 Tran Hung Dao (now the headquarters of the Vietnam Union of Associations of Associations of Association. ).
Therefore, information about a villa built before 1945, associated with King Bao Dai in Ngoc Ha flower village, was bought by a businessman and posted on Facebook that surprised many people.

The unfortunate “refresh” According to businessman Ho Hoang Hai – who currently owns most of the villa at 10A Ngoc Ha slope, Hanoi (now 186 Ngoc Ha lane) is said to be related to King Bao Dai, this villa is due to French architect Arthur Kruze designed. Originally, there are 3 floors, but the previous owner renovated the hot-resistant attic to become the 4th floor. The area in front of the villa, which is a garden of over 300m2, has a fence – surrounded by the people in the area called “dragon wall”, but this space has been built by people to live, only dragon wall. The surround was kept almost intact, only a short corner of the corner at the top of the alley was demolished. A corner of the villa still remains original. Photo: Thuong Hue “Two months ago I acquired a part of the ownership of the villa which is a part of the 1st and 3rd floors, the rest is from 4 owners. In general, the interior of the house has been surprisingly intact for the past 110 years such as: Stairs, ironwood floors, fireplace, wooden doors, built-in wooden cabinets ”- businessman Ho Hoang Hai shared and expressed wish to find solutions to preserve the architecture as well as historical and cultural values ​​of this villa.
However, speaking with the Economic & Urban reporter, after 4 hours of preliminary survey in and on the premises of this villa, Assoc.Prof. Dr. Khuat Tan Hung – Head of Department of Theory and Heritage Conservation architecture, Hanoi Architectural University said that the original value of the villa has been overshadowed by the regrettable renewal.
According to Assoc.Prof. Dr. Khuat Tan Hung, although the villa still retains many valuable original values, from looking outside, the professionals can see the existing details such as: yin and yang tiled roof; roof architecture inspired by traditional communal roofs with blades soaring at the four corners; dragon wall surrounds; The red brick stairs in front of the villa leading up to the second floor are still original. Inside the villa, there are intact fireplaces, built-in cabinets, window frames and curtains, showing the unique architecture of this French colonial villa, combining Eastern and Western cultures. The outward appearance has the appearance of the East, in the heart of the modern Western-style architecture; not at all contradictory, but surprisingly and interestingly in harmony with each other. Unfortunately, the homeowner has renewed the wall with white paint, plus the plaster ceiling, plus the landscape of the original villa has been replaced by undulating high-rise tube houses. The original architecture of the villa was sunk and overshadowed.
“That’s not to mention, the villa has been added to an attic, the existing wooden staircase is most likely not original, as through preliminary investigation, the original staircase leaned towards the grantino plan ( granulated stone, pigment, cement, plastering, glazing), not wood cladding. Along with that, the multi-ownership of the current villa makes the space and architecture here be broken by the walls blocking the ownership boundary. For example, the staircase from the first floor leads to the third floor (the part owned by businessman Ho Hoang Hai). With this architecture, the staircase going up to the right is the hall on the 2nd floor but is narrowed by a wall and then the path to the 3rd floor is quite narrow. ” – Associate Professor, Dr. Khuat Tan Hung analyzed.
Need to expand the scope of conservation
According to Assoc.Prof. Dr. Khuat Tan Hung, in order for the aforementioned villa to promote its value, the original element must be clearly revealed. To do this, he said that it is not easy, because the principle of conservation is to have a comprehensive conservation plan and then to be specific, that is to preserve the whole area, from house number 170 – 186 Ngoc Ha, Because there are still a number of French colonial villas in this area, there are even more intact architectural villas than the one related to King Bao Dai mentioned above. Meanwhile, this area is outside the boundary of the regulation on architectural planning management of the old quarter of Hanoi. “However, it is still a bit fortunate that it is still on the list of the management of French colonial mansions of the city. But in order to preserve and promote the value of this mansion, it is imperative to expand the conservation scope ”- Associate Professor, Dr. Khuat Tan Hung emphasized. Entrepreneur Ho Hoang Hai (leftmost) discusses with experts and economic and urban reporters. Regarding the businessman Ho Hoang Hai wants to preserve this villa, Associate Professor, Dr. Khuat Tan Hung said that this is good news, welcome and should be encouraged. Because of the fact, the villas of French colonial architecture in Hanoi that are still quite intact, mostly owned by the State, are offices, embassies; Privately owned villas appear to have been deformed over time. He also said that, in order to do this, businessman Ho Hoang Hai must first buy all the ownership of the villa in order to preserve and reveal the original value and promote the value of the villa. the villa in all aspects.
Expressing high agreement with the analysis and comments of Assoc.Prof.Dr. Khuat Tan Hung, Dr. Vu Hoai Duc – Lecturer of the Faculty of Interdisciplinary Sciences, National University of Hanoi, said, in the world. there are already experiences in successfully conserving the urban heritage that are applicable to this case in Hanoi. People gather heritage lovers into a group, this group of people with the nucleus are “sponsors”, while promoting communication about the value of heritage works, in order to create new awareness in community. They will then work vigorously on the legal front (lobbying for regulations to make it more difficult to change the urban layout and destroy valuable buildings) and eventually donate. have enough money, buy heritage buildings, renovate them beautifully and then sell them at a much higher price, with legal covenants protecting their identity.

“In my opinion, in Vietnam, specifically Hanoi can also be deployed in this way and Mr. Hai can form a team of lovers of old and old villas to mobilize collective strength in conservation work. , not only the villa is partly owned by you but also many other single villas are privately owned in the area and in the city area ”- Dr. Vu Hoai Duc said and said that, in the short term, It is necessary to properly assess the value of the urban heritage itself in the spatial population with tangible and intangible links on the cultural – historical dimension. For example, the continuation of the row of 3 villas, closely related to the Botanical Park – the royal garden in the past; Dinh and Ngoc Ha village – one of the ancient lands of Thang Long citadel. From there, it is possible to issue and enforce sanctions in repair and construction of works, work areas that are considered to have historical, cultural and architectural values. Although it is called “Bao Dai Villa”, the fact that King Bao Dai ever owned or actually lived here is not certain. There is information that this villa was built and inaugurated by an aunt of King Bao Dai in 1911 (Bao Dai was born in 1917), when abdicated, King Bao Dai used to come here. However, it is said that this is the mansion of Mr. Bao Dai with King Bao Dai, that is Baron Pìerre Jules François Didelot – husband of Mrs. Marie Agnès Huu Hao, sister of Nam Phuong Hoang Hau. The villa was built in 1939, not 1911, by architect Arthur Kruze (1900 – 1989) – professor of Indochina Fine Arts College, because according to recorded documents, architect Arthur Kruze graduated in architecture in 1929 and I went to Vietnam to be a lecturer in 1930 – 1954.