Struggling to preserve ancient French architecture

Inadequate policies lead to many difficulties for people living in old French villas in Hanoi. Dozens of households are crammed into rundown houses, with electricity and water fluctuating. Can’t go, can’t stay…

Slum house on land… diamond

French villa number 13 Phan Huy Chu (Hoan Kiem district – Hanoi) is in the area of ​​extremely dangerous degradation warning. Every rainy season, the local government sends warnings to people about the danger, but they still have to live here because there is no other way.

Mr. Lam Tien Tai in a damp house, can’t see sunlight at villa 3 Dien Bien Phu

The villa seems to be abandoned, the first and second floors are all fenced and not in use. Wooden stairs are reinforced, temporarily braced with wooden shelves, bed rails. Following the rickety wooden stairs just enough for one person to go, the PV group was present at the rooftop of the villa – this is also the home of 13 households. Each family lives in a makeshift “matchbox”. Every space on the terrace is used to the fullest, where there is a chicken coop, a temporary toilet…

The rickety stairs, must be supported, is the only way to the house of 13 households living in the old villa 13 Phan Huy Chu Photo: Tran Hoang

Ms. Truong Thi Huong (80 years old) said that she followed her husband to live here since the 1980s, her household has 4 people living in a room of 15m2. The house was severely degraded, the lower floors of the ceiling fell, causing fear for people. The wooden stairs from the French period are supported by columns but do not know how long they can withstand. “I’m old, so I can only stay up here, but I can’t go down to the first floor. I just hope the house will be renovated soon or go somewhere stable to avoid danger,” Huong shared.

Nearby is Mr. Nam’s house, which has been classified according to the standard by Hospital E for more than 40 years. Mr. Nam said that his house is in the “diamond” position, 3 fronts of Phan Huy Chu, Tran Hung Dao, and Han Thuyen streets, but he lives like a “slum”. However, if you want to fix it, you can’t fix it because the house is in a conservation area. Mr. Nam said: “The local government said that the project has existed for a long time, but it has not been implemented for many years. So we still have to live, we don’t know what to do.”

The cramped living scene in the old villa at 13 Phan Huy Chu. Photo: Tran Hoang

The story of living in a million-dollar mansion that is like a “slum” takes place in most other mansions. At Villa 3 Dien Bien Phu (Hoan Kiem District), every small corner is fully utilized for daily life. On the 2nd floor of the villa, a door is divided into 2 rooms, each room is the residence of 4 people. Pointing to the patchy corner of the wall with an area of ​​​​nearly 2m2, Ms. H said that her entire house is there for bathing, light cleaning, cooking, and laundry. “When you take a shower, you just need to close the curtain. If you have heavy cleaning, you can go down to the first floor with a shared toilet”, said Ms. H.

Right next to the corner of the bathroom is a bare-wired electrical system, which is at risk of fire at any time. However, Ms. H did not pay much attention. Ms. H said: “I know it’s dangerous, but it’s difficult to fix anything because I want to fix it, because there are other households to fix it, not just me.”

On the second floor of this villa is a living household, known as an expansion apartment after increasing the population. The room is like a birdcage suspended between the dark stairs, the narrow space plus the low ceiling make people entering have to stoop to go through the small door. Mr. Lam Tien Tai (70 years old) said, this is the room of the couple, who have been here for thirty years. The room could only fit one mattress, stuffy and didn’t know day or night. Each year, he pays the state 10 million dong in rent because he cannot afford to buy it back.

People can’t understand?

French villa number 90 Ly Thuong Kiet is another example of the bureaucracy and lack of responsibility of many authorities. The entire villa campus has long been encroached on construction, the villa itself is dangerously degraded, the stairs are rotten, the architecture is destroyed decades ago.

The house has been confirmed by the People’s Committee of Hoan Kiem District and the City People’s Committee to be demolished and allowed to be demolished and rebuilt.

However, the spiral of administrative procedures that lasted for many years made the landlord extremely frustrated. Specifically, on June 18, 2019, the Hanoi People’s Committee sent a document to the Department of Construction, Department of Planning and Architecture, Hoan Kiem District People’s Committee to agree on the policy of demolishing and rebuilding villa No. Ly Thuong Kiet and assigned the authorities to guide the procedure. However, it is very strange that then the Department of Construction refused to grant a permit because “The dossier does not have a written permission to dismantle the work of the City People’s Committee”! According to a representative of the Hanoi Urban Planning and Development Association, there are quite a few problems with the renovation and licensing procedures for villas that need to be reviewed and removed. The list of villas that need to be preserved must be regularly updated. In case of deterioration, no longer eligible for conservation, there must be solutions for households to be renovated and rebuilt.

The dangers of old, run-down villas have been warned and lessons have been learned. Typically, on September 22, 2015, the old French-style villa building at 107 Tran Hung Dao, Hoan Kiem district suddenly collapsed, killing 2 people, injuring many people, and 66 households living in the villa and around. must evacuate. Notably, this villa is on the list of French villas before 1954 by the Hanoi People’s Committee. Works classified as group 2 – must be approved by the Department of Planning and Architecture and related units if renovating or rebuilding. Even the villa management unit above had a plan to rebuild but still had to follow the procedure until the unfortunate incident happened.

According to Tran Hoang – Ha Anh