87 Ma May has a restored typical, vietnamese, tube house in the ancient city, old quarter, of Hanoi. It is an excellent example of north vietnamese, urban, residential architecture and interior design. Ma May street translates into english as rattan street. This was the part of the ancient city where dwellers bought and traded their rattan. Each street of the ancient city was named based on the goods sold on that street. Basically the city was a large open air market.
More than 100 years ago, Ma May was two street sections: Hang May street (rattan was sold on this street) and Hang Ma street (paper votives for burning to honor the ancestors were sold). Approximately 100 years ago, the street became known as May May Street. During the french colonialism, Ma May street was referred to by the french as Pavilions Rue Des Noirs.
The house’s long, narrow, length leads from the city street to, 28 meters (approximately) deep, to the back of the house. It’s tube shape is a typical housing shape for the urban residences in the ancient city of Ha noi. There are no alleys. When entering from street level, first level, the width of the shop is 5 meters (approximately). Feng shui stated the rear of the house be wider than the front in order for the owner to to be brought happiness and wealth.
The front street facade depicts a timber frame with ornate wood carvings. The fascia boards of the roof have wooden or tile carved ornament.
As was stated earlier, the first floor entry room was a shop. After the guest enters the shop on the first floor there is a middle courtyard. This courtyard has many different uses, one of the main uses was to light the first floor rooms. Behind the middle courtyard is a room where the servants lived and as well as a storage room. After this servant/storage room is another courtyard with a kitchen, well and toilet.
The second floor can be reached by the stairs from the first floor shop entry. The stairs lead to a second floor guest reception room. An altar for the family ancestors is housed here. The altar looks into the middle courtyard, to the house below. On the other side of the middle courtyard holds the veranda and sitting room. Behind the sitting room is the master’s bedroom (directly above the servant/storage quarters). The rear of the second floor of the house always has a garden where herbs were grown and dried. These herbs and plants were often used for medicinal purposes.
References:
Tam, Phung To (2012) Discovering the Ancient Streets of Ha Noi
https://sketchfab.com/models/fa01fbc850cd40f7936a5c90d8db05ae
http://architectureindevelopment.org/project.php?id=7
Vietnam Institute of Archaeology http://www.khaocohoc.gov.vn/
Keywords: vietnam house hanoi archaeology ethnology interior design architecture residential tube house urban dwelling
