Hoian Ancient Houses
Destination
Phung Hung Old House
The house is located at 4 Nguyen Thi Minh Khan Street. It was built in 1780, when Hoi An was prospering, and it is a typical commercial house representative of Vietnam’s urban areas in the 19th century. Conferred the title of “National Historical and Cultural Site” in 1993, the house has kept many documents about the architecture, culture, art and lifestyle of the Hoi An’s business circle from the old days. Phung Hung House bears the popular style of the 19th century – tubular shape, with a wide façade. It is not as long as some other old-style houses, and it is mainly made of wood, with two stories and four roofs. Here you can see a unique blending of two different architectural styles. The different floors are designed in two different styles: the Japanese style of four-sided roof can be perceived in the ground floor, and the Chinese design of round shaped roofs that reflect a turtle shell is present in the upper floor. The ground floor used to be the shop. Today, it is the family’s living room, furnished with some wooden old-style cupboards containing many precious objects and belongings. The house has 80 columns made of precious wood. Each column stands on a lotus-shaped base in order to minimize subsidence and moisture for the house and to prevent termites from damaging it. There are square pillars on the veranda, and the roof is made of pan-tiles.
The architecture of Phung Hung house represents the combination of Vietnamese, Japanese and Chinese styles. There are a lot of designs carved by carpenters in the Kim Bong Village. The house used to be a shop trading in cinnamon, pepper, salt, silk, chinaware and glassware. Now part of the house is used as a workshop for making commercial embroideries.
Tan Ky HouseLocated at 101 Nguyen Thai Hoc Street, Tan Ky House was constructed almost two centuries ago as the home of a Vietnamese merchant. The owner of the house has preserved its interior design and old furniture, as well as many relics of the prospering trade and cultural exchanges among the Vietnamese, Chinese and Japanese during the late 17 century. While visiting the small town Hoi An, you must also visit this Old House of Tan Ky to encounter great Vietnamese historical and cultural significance.The Old House of Tan Ky has a unique combination of three types of architecture. The beams of the roof are curve and they display Chinese information in an elaborate way; the peak roof bears Japanese characteristics and the Vietnamese crosshatch stands as a support to the roof of the old house. The walls of the house are also decorated with a unique mosaic.