Dong Lac Communal House

Dong Lac Communal House is located on Hang Dao Street. According to various folk and written sources, the communal house worships the deities Cao Son, Linh Lang, and Bach Ma. Based on the remaining traces and the stone stele at the communal house, it can be determined that the communal house dates from the Le period (17th century). However, it was destroyed during the war and was restored around 1856.

Dong Lac Communal House is one of the characteristic communal houses in the religious and belief architecture system of the Hanoi Old Quarter. It stands on a plot of 188.9m2, with a rat-tail shape, a 6m wide frontage, and the innermost part narrows to only 1.1m.

The architectural spaces of the communal house are divided by successive building sections, with courtyards between them for ventilation and light. This is the common layout of houses in the old quarter to suit the local climate, including: three-entrance gate - courtyard 01 - building section 01 - courtyard 02 - building section 02 (communal house) - courtyard 03 - building section 03 - courtyard 04 - building section 04 (auxiliary).

The outer gate of the communal house is built of brick, 6.1m high and 6m wide. The front and back faces have the name of the communal house in raised Chinese characters. The bodies of the pillars on both sides have raised mouldings, and the tops of the pillars are decorated with lotus flowers.

Building sections 01 and 03 are two-storey, newly built and renovated parts, with architectural forms harmonious with the ancient space in terms of height, architectural decorative details, colours, and building materials. The roof structure still uses wooden trusses, the roof is covered with local tiles, and the door system is designed in an ancient architectural style.

Building section 02: this is the main worship area of the communal house, renovated in its original state in 1941, with an area of 27.6m² and two storeys. The first floor is used as a working office of the Hanoi Old Quarter Management Board; the second floor is the remaining worship space of the communal house. The structure is load-bearing brick, the first-floor columns are decorated in the French colonial architectural style, and the second floor has wooden columns, beams, and floor with a wooden truss roof structure.

On the pillar bodies and brick walls of the first and second floors, Chinese couplets are rendered in relief. In particular, on the second-floor column beam there are two dragon heads, a remaining trace of the ancient architecture of the communal house. On the roof gable of the communal house is carved a line of Chinese characters recording the year of restoration: “The 10th day of the 7th month of the Tan Ty year, Bao Dai era 15 (1941)”. From building section 01, following the corridor and looking to the right, there is a stone stele carved with Chinese characters bearing the reign title “Tu Duc Binh Thin” (1856), recording that the communal house was built in the Le period (17th century), attached to the wall. This is the remaining trace proving the existence of the communal house in the development history of the Hanoi Old Quarter. The second floor is divided into two small spaces separated by a wooden partition with three doors, decorated in the upper-lattice lower-panel door style. Above is a ventilation panel decorated with wooden balusters. The outer room is used for receiving guests and drinking tea, with a set of salon furniture. The inner room (behind the wooden door section) is the main worship area. Against the rear wall of the worship area is a wooden altar, on which worship objects are placed, including incense bowls, offering trays, and water bowls. The relics and carving art are not numerous, but all are characteristic products of Le dynasty art.

Currently, the communal house still contains valuable artefacts such as: a Le-period stone stele bearing the reign title Tu Duc Binh Thin (1856), made of grey stone, simple in form; the stele top and border are undecorated, measuring 44cm x 54cm, with 8 lines of Chinese characters carved on the face. The altar is lacquered in vermilion with a trapezoidal front, average width 1.65m, height 1.3m, depth 74cm, decorated with apricot blossom motifs, and in the centre are carved the four seasons with dragon, ly, turtle, and phoenix. In addition, the communal house also preserves a fairly large system of horizontal lacquered boards and couplets rendered in relief.

Dong Lac Communal House was ranked as a national relic by the Minister of Culture and Information (now the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism) in Decision No. 06/2004/QD-BVHTT dated 18/02/2024./.