Walking down the architectural history of Ha Noi

From tube houses in French architecture in the Old Quarter and tenement houses in the past to the science of winds and waters in living spaces, Hanoi in Vanessa Frey’s mind is always extraordinary.










A growing city

As I would ride or walk around, my speed or pace would become slower and slower, as I looked more and more attentively at the different types of houses, temples, buildings etc. that make this Southeast Asian city so unique. However, its uniqueness does not only come from its architecture, but also from its ancient character. Ha Noi would turn 1000 on October 10th, 2010.

The story goes that the city was founded in 1010 by Lý Thái Tổ, first emperor of the Lý dynasty. To give you an idea, Bangkok, Vientiane or Phnom Penh - the neighbouring capitals - are mere babies in comparison, barely reaching 400 years old. Hanoi is renowned for its innumerable clothes shops, its touristic attractions and rich architecture.

Strolling around the city, several questions may cross your mind. For instance, you may wonder why phone numbers are printed on the walls (it’s actually advertising for small building contractors offering their services), why some houses are so narrow, why so many buildings are yellow, and how come all these lakes are still around.

Multipurpose houses – Ha Noi’s French touch

The narrow houses are called “shophouses”. It’s a vernacular architectural type, omnipresent in Southeast Asia, from Malacca to Manila. They are generally arranged in two floors : the ground floor is dedicated to selling basically anything that can be sold, the other is the residential space for the family that lives in it.

In the Old Quarter of Ha Noi, they are usually 4 to 5 meters wide and may be very long,  like this one on Hang Can street, reaching 48 meters long. The two most credible reasons that could explain this particular width have nothing to do with one another. On the one hand, you have the historical reason : taxes used to be calculated based on the street frontage area; on the other hand, the practical justification : the timbers that were used to support the roof and the floor were unavoidably short. My inclination would go for the first theory, but that’s just my opinion. The most recent ones are more colourful, more solid and steady thanks to the enhanced building materials, and some became asymmetric – usually when a landlord of one shophobuys the second floor of the adjacent one. In this “so special” neighbourhood, the tiniest piece of hois now incredibly expansive, which explains that ground floors are divided in as many parts as possible, then rent or sold at high prices to potential stallholders.

Another historic part of the city that has been protected is the French colonial district on the South of the Old Quarter - the checkerboard portion of the town. In addition, the main remnants of the former French capital of Indochina are : the Opera Ho- finished in 1911, it looks like the “Opéra Garnier” in Paris; the State Bank of Vietnam - formerly the Bank Of Indochina ; the Long Bien bridge - formerly Doumer bridge ; and the historic hotel Sofitel Metropole - built in early days of the 20th century, it also retains the French charm that makes it a legendary place.

Socially oriented

In 1960s, the government adopted a housing project. That project consisted in building collective hounits. This socializing architectural model - egalitarian surface area, one or two rooms per family, shared bathroom and kitchen - was imported from the West through China, the USSR or North Korea. Nowadays this ancient model is considered obsolete, though a lot of these yellow houses are still around today - the yellow color was most likely chosen becaat this time it was easy and cheap to produce. Some of them have been renovated, some are expected to be, some have been “privatized”

Shared bathroom are less and less common in this kind of place. Nevertheless, some Vietnamese people still really appreciate collective hounits for the very reasons why Westerners may not like them – that is,  all apartments are « open doors », anyone is welcome to join in, everyone knows everyone else, etc. Whether one likes it or not, collective hounits are recognised as the most identifiable and specific form of Hanoian architecture.

Within a day, I can : breakfast on a bread with a sort of omelet or a pho while watching an aerobic course, take a swim in one of the many outdoor swimming pools of the town, stroll around and play badminton at Lenin Park, have a light lunch in a street stall on one of the 36 streets of the Old Quarter, go shopping in the Cathedral’s neighborhood, sip on a fresh fruit shake on the roof of a nice café around Hoan Kiem lake, enjoy a delicious dinner in a smart restaurant on Ly Thuong Kiet or Tran Hung Dao street, treat myself to a yummy and enormous coconut ice cream around West lake, and finish my day in a cosy bar. And this is how I get out of the expat circle for good. Or, let’s say, for a while at least.