To serve the planning project and renovate the space of the area east of Hoan Kiem Lake of the Hanoi People's Committee, 11 headquarters of agencies, units and 40 households will be relocated before September 2025.
Like many historical works around Hoan Kiem Lake, the architectural complex at 47 Hang Dau marks the turning points of time, witnessing great changes of the times.
Lao Dong reporter had an interview with writer, "Hanoi School" Nguyen Ngoc Tien about the cultural space and historical works around Hoan Kiem Lake, including mentioning the special fate of the architectural work located at 47 Hang Dau.
Writer and researcher Nguyen Ngoc Tien said, There is very little documentation about the residential area at 47 Hang Dau. I have researched many different sources of documents about Hanoi and the works around Hoan Kiem Lake, but not many books or documents mention the address 47 Hang Dau.
I went to the National Archives Center to read French "newspaper" documents. Declarations of understanding the term are notices issued by the government, notified to the people.
According to newspapers and documents at the National Archives Center, at the end of the 19th century, area 47 Hang Dau was an empty lot.
Then, in the 20th century, the Germans built a building to house a government headquarters. When World War I broke out, the Germans sold the building to the city. When the French took control of Hanoi, the building at 47 Hang Dau was used as the headquarters of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Bac Ky. The French have built and renovated the building in the Indochinese architectural style.
After 1954, when we took over Hanoi, this building was used as the headquarters of the Department of Culture (now the Hanoi Department of Culture and Sports) until now".
Researcher Nguyen Ngoc Tien said that according to what he researched and read in the documents, at the headquarters of 47 Hang Dau, a basement was built for the staff of the Department of Culture and accommodation. Here, many writers such as Le Bau, Nguyen Dau... used to live in the basement built for officials and staff of the Department of Culture.
According to documents recorded at the National Archives Center, the headquarters at 47 Hang Dau is about 100 years old. The building has undergone many renovations, reconstructions, additions, and expansions... to become the current building, still retaining the French's Indochina architectural style.
In the 11 addresses of the agencies and units relocated to serve the space renovation project in the area east of Hoan Kiem Lake, researcher Nguyen Ngoc Tien also mentioned the address 69 Dinh Tien Hoang (headquarters of Hanoi Power Corporation) which used to be the address of Bo Ho Lighting Factory.
Before 1892, Dinh Tien Hoang Street is now Francis Garnier Street, at the address of the electricity company at that time, which was a Frenchman's hotel - this was the first hotel in Hanoi. After that, the hotel owner sold it, from 1892 to 1894, the city built the Bo Ho Light Plant (also known as the Indochina Power Plant)" - researcher Nguyen Ngoc Tien said.
On November 20, 1894, the boiler testing was conducted and on January 5, 1895, the Bo Ho Light Plant officially came into operation for lighting. At this time, the factory has 2 single-way generators with a total capacity of 500 kW.
According to researcher Nguyen Ngoc Tien, there are many cultural and historical works around Hoan Kiem Lake, which have witnessed many ups and downs, changes, and changes that have occurred almost continuously through dynasties and changes.
For me, the renovation of the space in the East of Hoan Kiem Lake by the Hanoi People's Committee this time is also a huge turning point. I believe that this turning point will return the large, green, airy space - that Hoan Kiem Lake deserves to have" - said writer and Hanoian scholar Nguyen Ngoc Tien.
Writer and researcher Nguyen Ngoc Tien was born in 1958 in Hanoi. He shared that he has a special love for Hanoi, and has spent a lot of research to publish a series of books about Hanoi such as: 5678 steps around Hoan Kiem Lake, Di ngang Hanoi, Di ngang Hanoi, Di ngang Hanoi...
