Walking along the streets of Ha Noi, visitors see many buildings constructed during French colonialism: A house on Hang Khay Street from 1886, another house on Cifa Nam Street from 1902, a building on Lãn Ông Street with "1926" on its facade. These houses bear witness to a historical period Vietnamese sometimes want to forget.
The area south of Hoàn Kiếm Lake retains a variety of architectural styles. In addition to the influence of the French regional style, we can see American and other European styles, including Modernism, Neo-Classicism, and a hybridisation of Western and Asian movements.
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| The Ha Noi Municipal Theatre |
Streets in this section of the city are laid out like a chessboard. Each square of the "board" represents a parcel of land that was allotted to a French officer and his family for a private villa and surrounding gardens. Architectural style depended somewhat on the social position of the original owner, who often worked with his architect on the design. Architectural style also reflected nostalgia for France because French officials who came to far-off Viet Nam often preferred to live in houses that reminded them of their hometowns.
Reflections of regions of France are found in private and public buildings scattered around Ha Noi but are more densely concentrated in the blocks of the Western Quarter. We can trace their architectural origins to styles of Paris, Northern France, Central France and the Southern France.
Architects such as Moncet, Jacques, Lasgiquet, Leonard, and even Vietnamese architects trained by the French tended to copy Western designs to meet French tastes and those of high-society Vietnamese who had adopted a French lifestyle. These designers transplanted French vernacular architecture that had a distinct origin in a particular region or province and combined it with other regional styles. Each transplanted style was uniquely local and consistent with the climate and natural conditions of the original region.
There are fewer structures with French regional style in Ha Noi than in resort towns such as Da Lat, Sa Pa, and Bach Ma. French popular styles strongly influenced the later creative works of architects searching for suitable methods they could adapt to natural conditions in Viet Nam.
Northern France
The architecture of the Northwestern region of France features a characteristic multifaceted roof system. The roof is massive but neatly organized. Moreover, the division between the main and secondary structures is clear. The decoration, which is simple and concentrated on the corners, is less complicated than classical architecture.
The architecture of Northeast France frequently uses materials such as wood from the forests. The main roof is steep so that snow will slide off rather than collect and cause the roof to collapse. In the mountainous regions, buildings with high turrets give a magnificent panoramic view of the surrounding countryside. The form of the buildings is simple and arranged on a vertical plane. The system of doors and windows uses arches as decorative elements, and windows have a small roof to keep out the sun and rain. The architecture integrates many independent structural components with roofs of different heights on a single building. In general, architectural works of the Northern French style seem tall and grand with highly aesthetic features. Architectural techniques follow the rule of repetition and continuity throughout the vertical plane. For example, rectangular and six-sided figures are repeated from top to bottom on doors and walls and on the brackets supporting the overhanging roofs.
Starting in 1921, a high concentration of villas of the Northern French style was built along the main streets of Ba Dinh Quarter. These villas are partly hidden behind verdant gardens and beautiful trees. Many houses in that quarter retain both their vernacular style and a more palatial feel.
Central France
The architecture of Central France, including the Southwest and Southeast, has a freely-applied arrangement of decorative elements, which are not formally symmetrical. The roof slope is less steep than that required in the snowy north. The facade is composed of vertical elements. Windowpanes are divided into many sections, and there are fewer decorations on the walls. Nevertheless, the decorative details including figures on the doors and windows are delicate and exquisite, especially the windows on the second-floor balcony as well as the arches under the roof. Wooden rafters and brackets sometimes of complex and creative construction hold up the roof and overhanging eaves.
Some structures in Ha Noi still have tower-like annexes and gazeboes, an architectural style reflecting the central mountainous region of France. The narrow vertical plane with wall decorations is a distinguishing feature of buildings in Central France.
Southern France
South France borders Spain and the Mediterranean Sea. Because this region is hot and experiences little rain, house roofs are flat or have a small angle. Slate-tile roofs deflect the sun's heat. These houses have atriums and courtyards in front and use natural, unfinished materials. The arrangement of the facade is asymmetrical. A distinguishing characteristic of a southern-style house is the entranceway advancing from the plane of the building and extending forward, adding volume to the front of the building and creating elegance.
The eaves and the overall architecture exploit decorative details on the roof, the dormer windows of the second floor, and the brick pillars. These houses are generally designed with details arranged horizontally. Wide doors take up a great portion of the vertical plane, and a system of small overhanging roofs like awnings imitates classic Italian architecture. Not many buildings of the Southern French style have been built in Ha Noi; most of the few that were built have been modified to accommodate the city's harsh, humid climate. Some of those buildings combine details borrowed from the style of Central France.
During the 1940s, a wealthy Vietnamese merchant class, a new Vietnamese middle class, and a Vietnamese civil-servant class working for the French administration appeared in Ha Noi. They lived in the newly developed southern part of Ha Noi around the former city wall, an area that expanded to Thien Quang Lake. That area encompasses present-day Bui Thi Xuan, Trieu Viet Vuong, and Mai Hac De Streets. The houses of these Vietnamese were primarily small-sized villas with adjacent attached buildings.