Tan Ky Ancient House, Hoi An, Quang Nam
One of the interesting activities when traveling Hoi An Ancient Town is visiting the ancient building constructions. Tan Ky Ancient House is a beautiful house, and it was built in the 18th century and has still been intact until now. This article helps you know generally about the origin and architecture of the house before you come to visit it.
The 18th century was an extremely prosperous period of Hoi An commercial port town. Many Chinese Traders became rich. They built big houses to live and trade. Tan Ky Ancient House located at 101 Nguyen Thai Hoc Street is an almost perfect example of a merchant’s residence in this period. The second generation of the house gave the name to his house was Tan Ky (Progress Shop) with the wish that the business of his family would be developed forever.
Although the house has gone through many exchanges of the history and the huge devastation of annual floods, seven generations of the family have continuously tried to keep the house in good condition. Therefore, In spite of not being the oldest, Tan Ky Ancient House is thought that the house is the most well-preserved in Hoi An.
The house’s frame is made of jack – fruit trees, ironwood, and peck-wood; the wall is also made of wood; the floor and the roofs are covered with Bat Trang bricks. All of them have kept the house cool in summer and warm in winter. The house contains Oriental philosophy, such as the triple-beam structure (stands for heaven, earth, and humans), the five-round blocks (represent metal, wood, water, fire and earth – the five basic natural elements in Eastern philosophy) and several decorative carvings on the edge of the roof and furniture. Two vertical panels inscribed parallel sentences next to the Tan Ky House’s central courtyard make visitor have to pay attention to. Each stroke of writing is a picture of a bird. One hundred bird pictures in total symbolize for perfection.
Tan Ky Ancient House is very near Cau Pagoda (Japanese Bridge), If you are at Cau Pagoda, walk down Bach Dang Street into Nguyen Thai Hoc Street. It is suggested to visit this place at the beginning or end of the day, not in the middle. Drinking a cup of coffee at one of the coffee shops near the house is also thought to be interesting in the journey discovering this over-two hundred-year-old house.
