Hanoi can prop up old homes or let them fall

Published October 7, 2015
THE 100-year-old Chau Van Liem secondary school building.
THE 100-year-old Chau Van Liem secondary school building.

HANOI: Restoring dangerously dilapidated French-style houses in Hanoi isn’t a simple task.

Heated discussions are on and concerns expressed on how to preserve French-styled mansions, after one such 110-year-old structure collapsed in central Hanoi, killing two persons and injuring six others.

To repair and preserve these buildings one needs not only a large amount of money but also cooperation of the locals and local authorities said Ngo Doan Duc of the Vietnam Architecture Association.

There are many such mansions located in Hanoi’s Ba Dinh and Hai Ba Trung districts.

“We have to carefully check not only these old mansions but also old houses in the Old Quarter because they are being downgraded at an alarming rate,” Duc said.

Implementing steps to preserve them, however, is not easy because it needs a team who should know the art of restoration well.

“First we have to start a concrete programme while educating locals about restoration and then urge them to join in,” Duc said.

He said preservationists have to make clear each mansion’s age and status so as to have a plan to repair and upgrade it on time.

A state management in-charge should have all the information and be given the responsibility to help locals deal with any problem which arises in the preservation of the mansion, to ensure safety and protect the heritage, he said.

Architect Dao Ngoc Nghiem, deputy chairman of the Association of Hanoi’s Planning and Urban Development, said Vietnam still does not have a concrete policy to encourage people to preserve and restore these mansions compared with European countries such as Sweden and Italy.

Over the past 20 years, Hanoi had only classified ancient mansions but did not have a long-term solution to protect them, Nghiem said.

For example, a mansion can last at least one hundred years. Relevant agencies in charge should check whether it is 98 or 99 years old to have a concrete solution for its preservation.

“We have to do so to ensure safety and preserve its heritage,” he said.

Many mansions in Hanoi have a rich culture and heritage and are owned by individuals, so to protect and preserve them, the state should have a policy to encourage them to join the preservation efforts, Nghiem said.

The collapse of the 110-year-old mansion at Tran Hung Dao Street in Hanoi’s Hoan Kiem District was a result of the lack of such a policy and mechanism, he said.

Governments in Italy and Germany have funded residents who wish to repair and restore their mansions, or they have a policy to buy the mansions and move the residents to other places, and turn these properties into state heritage sites.

Italy has many hundreds of architectural heritage sites, but experts have classified and chosen 40 special ones to inject money for protection and preservation, Nghiem said.

Meanwhile, Vietnam had a long list to be preserved including 1,200 mansions and 900 ancient houses in the Hanoi’s Old Quarter, he said.

“From where should we get the money to deal with them?” Nghiem asked.

THE Hotel Metropole, opened in 1901, reflects the French colonial era in Vietnam.
THE Hotel Metropole, opened in 1901, reflects the French colonial era in Vietnam.

Asked whether the almost French-styled mansions in Hanoi, which are more than 100 years old, have lost their use now, Nghiem quoted French experts as saying that almost all of these mansions had lost their utility.

Despite all that, due to the paucity of shelters, locals have started living in such downgraded mansions or tried to enlarge an area to live in, he said.

Vietnam has completed classification of such mansions which shows clearly that they need to be preserved and restored so that relevant agencies can popularise these among local residents and make them understand the kind of mansions they are living in, so that they can seek right solutions, Nghiem said.

Architect Tran Huy Anh of the Vietnam Architecture Association said the recent collapse shows that the management of Hanoi’s mansions is inadequate.

For a heritage mansion, the agency in charge does not have the right to directly interfere in the construction. Meanwhile, those units or individuals using these mansions do not have the right or capacity to repair it and also do not understand rules of restoration, Anh said.

“I think users living in a mansion should be the first persons responsible to manage and keep a watch over their living quarters, and warn the relevant agencies when the time comes to deal with them,” he said.

“I know many such mansions which are in a dangerous state, but if we have suitable solutions they could be made safe,” Anh added.

Architect and professor, Hoang Dao Kinh warned that outdated mansions should not be damaged because of their value with regard to aesthetics, landscape, culture and history.

French experts have sent a written warning to Vietnam which states that many of the French-styled mansions built in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City have outlived their utility.

“They have reminded us to repair and restore the mansions, and we have done that at the more than 100-year-old Chau Van Liem secondary school, a French styled building in the Cuu Long [Mekong] Delta province of Can Tho,” Kinh said, and added that the school, after being restored, could exist for another 100 years.

In Vietnam, when our ancestors built a temple or a pagoda, they did not forecast that it should be used for 100 or 200 years, but many of them still exist.

“However, we should not depend solely on a warning to damage a mansion or an ancient house to build a new one,” Kinh said.

Asked about the solutions to deal with this problem, Kinh said that the most urgent issue now is that all French-styled mansions in Hanoi, HCM City or any localities in Vietnam should be carefully checked.

These need to be preserved or restored, and users should prepare a document to propose these changes to agencies in charge. Those seriously downgraded should receive emergency reparation, Kinh said.

Architect Nguyen Quoc Thong of the Vietnam Architect Association agreed with Kinh saying that authorities and users should be responsible for preserving the mansions, adding “We should not damage an outdated mansion, but we need to restore it.”

Architect Emmanuel Cerise, director of the project to develop the Hanoi urban areas, said Hanoi authorities should organise training courses to increase the team of architects, preservationists and urban managers.

Cadres from the Hanoi Department of Planning and Architecture and relevant agencies of a district should be the first team to be trained on how to manage or supervise an ancient construction.

“We are ready to support Hanoi in training such cadres to become professionals and deal with the problem. We could also link up with leading universities on preservation to help the relevant agencies to manage French-styled mansions in the capital,” Cerise said.

He said France has a large and powerful team of architects restoring ancient constructions, and thanks to them a 100-year-old skilled heritage preservation management network, their capacity and professionalism, has been brought into play.

“I hope that with the help of France, Vietnam can deal effectively with the problem,” Cerise said.

Hanoi Mayor Nguyen The Thao held an emergency meeting to deal with the collapse of the mansion at 107, Tran Hung Dao.

He told relevant agencies to restore the mansion while assigning the Department of Construction to c-operate with districts to check all downgraded mansions, housing constructions and apartment buildings so as to suggest solutions to him as soon as possible.

It aims to ensure safety for local residents and heritage buildings in the city.

By arrangement with Viêt Nam News

Published in Dawn, October 7th , 2015

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