Devoted Family Refuses To Tear Down Ancestral House, Uses Crane To Place It On New Mansion

Family builds new mansion, puts ancestral house on top

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Worshipping our ancestors is a prominent trait of the Vietnamese culture. Indeed, visit any Viet household, and you’ll likely see an altar dedicated to paying tributes to our forefathers.

This one family from Hanoi, however, has gone the extra mile to preserve the legacy of their ancestors. When they built a new mansion on the grounds of their ancestral house, they didn’t tear the old building down. Instead, they used a crane to lift it to the top of the new one.

Here’s how they achieved the incredible feat.

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The house is over a century old

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Image credit: VNExpress

Since earlier this year, many residents of Liên Mạc Ward, Bắc Từ Liêm District, Hanoi have found themselves intrigued by a new building in the area. At first glance, it is an expansive 5-story mansion equipped with the most modern of amenities. However, on its rooftop lies another house – an old, humble one built in traditional Vietnamese architecture style.

Mdm. Quỳnh Liên, the owner, told VNExpress that the old house belonged to her great-grandparents. There isn’t an exact record of when it was erected, but she estimated it to be over a century old.

Image credit: VNExpress

Last year, Mdm. Liên’s family made the decision to replace it with a modern-style mansion for better living conditions. However, as generations of her family have lived in the building, they couldn’t bring themselves to tear it down. Instead, they uprooted it and brought it to the top of the new mansion.

Of course, the process was not easy.

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They disassembled the house and brought it to the rooftop with a crane

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Inside the old house
Image credit: VNExpress

From what Mdm. Liên said, to achieve the feat, they invited experienced carpenters to study the house and memorize its structures. Then, they disassembled the old house, down to every last column, tile, and plank.

The pieces that were too old and damaged were replaced, and then builders used a crane to carry the materials up to the mansion’s rooftop to reassemble them again.

The entire process cost VND1 billion (~USD43,400) and took 8 months to complete.

“The hardest part was to protect the carvings on the wood pieces from getting cracked or shattered,” Mdm. Liên shared.

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Family preserves ancestral house on top of their new mansion

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Even in our modern society, classic Vietnamese architecture is still regarded highly by a large part of the population. Many families still use old-school furniture and hang up wooden statues and paintings as a way to show their respect for traditional values.

However, it is rare to see elements of the old and the new combined so flawlessly as this family has managed to achieve. The unique mansion is truly a sight to behold.

We wish Mdm. Liên and her family a wonderful life in their new living quarters.

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Cover image adapted from VNExpress