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Nga Hoang wanders among the
architectural gems of Hanoi, and
finds herself on a journey through
the chapters of history that have
shaped this grand old dame of
the Far East. Photographs by Tran
Quang Duc
Clockwise from far
left: Wall-to-wall
houses at the Old
Quarter; shuttered
windows are a
common sight at
the French Quarter;
modern buildings at
My Dinh
H I S T O R I C A L H A N O I
HANOI IS THE KIND
of place where
the multiple layers of past, present
and future overlap. Nowhere is this
more evident than in its buildings
—
a cheerful patchwork of Chinese
pragmatism, French colonial grandeur,
Soviet kitsch and post-
doi moi
(
reform
era), modern Vietnamese enterprise
woven together into a rich architectural
fabric.
TheOldQuarter
A tour of Hanoi’s architecture can only
start in one place — the city’s beating
heart, the Old Quarter. Walking into
this zone feels like diving headlong into
a bowl of noodles. The streets twist
together in a dizzying jumble of traffic-
choked arteries lined with countless
shops fronting ageing houses. Akin to
cake pieces, these wall-to-wall houses
feature painted frontages and curvy
wrought-iron balconies festooned with
just about everything — from potted
plants to wooden birdcages draped
in red velvet, to sun-dried clothes in
every colour of the rainbow, to gigantic,
gaudy advertising billboards.
Typically in this area, craftsmen
—
as diverse as jewellers, tin smiths
and glaziers — ply their trade and sell
their wares at street level while raising
