Capital reviews over 1,200 French villas for preservation

Illustration photo

In late 2013, the local authorities issued a list of 1,253 old villas, including 352 State-owned villas, 100 others held by different organizations, 301 private villas, and 500 villas of individuals.

The old villas are located in the five inner districts of Ba Dinh (428 villas), Hoan Kiem (527 villas), Hai Ba Trung (270 villas), Tay Ho (14 villas), and Dong Da (14 villas). 

Most of them have been downgraded. Hundreds of villas had been enlarged, some deformed in the process. State villas are being used by hundreds of agencies and enterprises.

Hence, the People’s Committee found it necessary to review the list. 

Many renovations and design changes made to the old buildings have taken place. For example, in Pham Dinh Ho ward (Hai Ba Trung district), some renovated villas have been transformed into restaurants and bars.

Similarly, Tran Hung Dao Ward, Hoan Kiem district is home to many old villas, which are also massively renovated and newly licensed, including those with illegal construction works. 

With villas, shophouses and large residences seized by the state following the 1954 communist victory in North Viet Nam, old properties in Ha Noi were collectivized and filled with new occupants by the state.

Decades later, these old villas remain divided between multiple families, making it difficult for developers to buy them out. The result is a state of inertia, in which buildings can neither be destroyed nor effectively renovated./.

By Kim Anh