The residence of Mr. Do Van Hien is located in An Binh Dong hamlet, Dong Hoa Hiep commune, Cai Be district, Tien Giang province, it is 5 km away from  the National Highway 1 to the South, 1 km away from the center of Cai Be town to the Southwest. The house is located near the town center in residential area, by Cay Da irrigation ditch bank of An Binh Dong hamlet, thus the road leading to the relic by cars and boats is convenient. As the statement of his family, in 1960, Mr. Do Van Luong (the father of Mr. Do Van Hien) bought the house in My Hoi hamlet, Hoi Cu commune, Cai Be district, then restored it. The original building had 3 compartments with terracotta tiles floor, fish scale tiles roof, louvred doors, wooden walls and it was completed in 1961.

Despite of 2 times of minor modifications in the year of 1979 and 2010, the house has still remained its original architecture, the main building materials included bricks, tiles and woods. The house’s current area is 244m² out of total area of 5,071m². The house was built in the shape of letter “Dinh” ( 丁style), including a main building ( front comparment) for worship as well as reception of guests and auxiliary building ( rear compartment ) for gathering of family.

The frame construction of main compartment includes 8 main wooden pillars (600cm high, 25cm in diameter); 8 second-row pillars (480cm high, 20cm square) and 4 third-row pillars of concrete (290cm high, 10cm square); 8 detached beams; 4 main bars connecting front main pillars with back main pillars and 4 braces, 2 cross braces and vertical braces to create a roof support frame. The pillars were placed on the blue stones with glazed tile floor, fish scale tile roof.

The auxiliary building has a smaller size, including 8 pillars, 4 main bars and 4 cross braces bars, triangular gabled roof; the silk partition for worship and the two sides of the bedroom were built with wall plates instead of traditional wooden walls;  the roof  was covered with asbestos-cement corrugated sheets.

         The interior walls were decorated with light blue of paints ; 3 blue louvred doors with wooden door frame.

        The space between the fourth second-row pillars and fourth first-row pillars is used as a place for guests reception, arranged with a long wooden table encrusted with mother-of-pearl in the theme of four kinds (apricot blossom, orchid, daisies, bamboo). On the left compartment, seeing from the outside, a set of large wooden plates, contour carved with four sacred animals (Dragon, Unicorn, Turtle, Phoenix), squirrel and a bunch of grapes and flowers, leaves.

On the two main pillars in the middle compartment is decorated with tureen inlaid with mother-of-pearl in the theme of poem and painting,  besides the decorative patterns in inlay with mother-of-pearl with apricot blossom, daisies, pheasant, decorative pattern triangular support carved in the theme of a bat holding in its mouth a flower basket. Above the decorative patterns, there are 24 delicately carved wooden frames and in inlay with mother-of-pearl of orchid, apricot blossom, lotus flowers, butterflies, geometric squares, rounded baluster, double happiness letters, double phoenix, ochna, pine, barringtonia, bats and pomegranates. Inside the altar exists some wooden chairs ( for rice ritual) and decorations with glass paintings carved with the words “Duc Luu Phuong”. The two sides of paintings decorated with two tureen incrusted with mother-of-pearl in the theme “poem and painting”; The below is a altar incrusted with mother-of-pearl in the theme of four kinds (apricot blossom, orchid, daisies, bamboo). All of them were arranged in harmony making an ancient beauty of the house.

As a harmonious architectural style combined between ancient and modern style, but remaining cultural traditions of the Southern Vietnam in general and the Mekong Delta in particular, the house of Mr. Do Van Hien is considered as one of the houses which shows the general image for the ancient village of Dong Hoa Hiep, contributing to traditional education and tourism development as well as preservation of folk houses to the current and future generations. Therefore, the People’s Committee of Tien Giang Province recognized the residence of Mr. Do Van Hien as an architectural and artistic relic at provincial level in 2018.

MSc  Mr. NGUYEN MANH THANG
     Director of Tien Giang Museum