An Hiên and the Villa of Beasts: Two Lives of a Huế Garden House

Filiation, or Diverging Models, in Traditional Huế Architecture?

Hidden along the banks of the Perfume River, An Hiên Garden House is one of the finest surviving examples of a traditional Huế garden house and nhà rường. Unlike the grand scale of royal architecture, An Hiên captivates visitors with its understated beauty: a spacious green garden, an old wooden house, tree-shaded pathways, and the harmonious arrangement of every element within the space.

For more than a century, An Hiên has preserved the distinctive appearance of a traditional garden house. Here, visitors can not only explore an old house but also gain an insight into how a family in the past organised its living space, preserved family traditions, and connected daily life with nature.

An Hiên Garden House is located at 58 Nguyễn Phúc Nguyên Street, in the Kim Long area, on the northern bank of the Perfume River. The main façade of the house faces south, near Dã Viên Bridge, and from here, visitors can look toward Thiên Mụ Pagoda.

An Hiên was established in the late 19th century, during a period when garden houses and aristocratic residences were flourishing in the Kim Long area — a region that once concentrated many residences of royal relatives, nobles, and mandarins of the Nguyễn Dynasty.

According to historical accounts that have been passed down, the first owner of the property was a princess of the Nguyễn Dynasty. In 1895, the estate was transferred to Phạm Đăng Khanh, the son of a high-ranking mandarin under Emperor Gia Long.

In 1920, the property was transferred to Tùng Lễ, a wealthy man who was well known in the area. By 1936, An Hiên belonged to Nguyễn Đình Chi, who was then the Governor of Hà Tĩnh. After his death in 1940, his wife, Đào Thị Xuân Yến, continued to manage and preserve the property.

Through generations of owners, An Hiên has preserved both its architecture and landscape. The changes brought by time have therefore not erased the traces of the past; instead, they have made this place a remarkable witness to life in Huế for more than a century.

The grounds cover some 4,600 m² — enough to set An Hiên entirely apart from the tightly packed buildings of the city beyond its walls. From the outside, the main house is barely visible at first: a layer of lush greenery surrounds it, creating a gradual transition from the street into the private world within. This close relationship between house and landscape is not merely decorative; it is fundamental to the character of the traditional Huế garden house, where the environment forms an integral part of the architecture.

This arrangement is one of the notable characteristics of traditional garden house architecture in Huế.

The Entrance and Layout of a Traditional Huế Garden House

The entrance to An Hiên begins with an arched gate built of brick and mortar. From the gate, a path approximately 34 metres long leads deep into the property, with rows of trees planted in multiple layers on both sides.

Nothing here rushes toward the house. Instead of going directly from the street into the living room, visitors pass through the gate, rows of trees, the garden, the screen, and finally reach the main house.

In front of the house is a screen featuring the character "Thọ", which carries significance according to traditional feng shui beliefs. There is also a rectangular pond in front, creating another layer of transition and helping to moderate the climate.

These seemingly small details actually show how carefully people in the past considered the relationship between architecture, landscape, and daily life.

Located in the middle of the garden is a traditional nhà rường covering approximately 135 m², arranged in a three-bay, two-wing layout.

The central bay is used for worship and is also the most formal space in the house. The two side bays are used for receiving guests and daily activities. The two wings at either end of the house are divided into private spaces for family members.

Wood, Craftsmanship and the Nhà Rường Tradition

In a nhà rường, wood is not merely the structural foundation of the house; it also determines much of the beauty of its architecture.

The large wooden columns create a sense of rhythm throughout the space. Beams, rafters, and decorative elements are meticulously crafted, reflecting the skill and craftsmanship of traditional Vietnamese carpenters.

The most impressive feature of the house is its wooden frame. The columns, rafters, and main structural components are joined together to form a solid and harmonious whole, while many details are hand-carved with motifs deeply rooted in traditional Vietnamese art.

Over time, the surface of the wood gradually takes on deeper, richer tones, its natural grain becoming more pronounced, while small marks and traces on the material become part of its aesthetic value.

An Hiên is also captivating for the artifacts preserved inside the house.

Wooden furniture sets, cabinets, household items, tea sets, and antique objects bring the space to life. In particular, the house preserves the horizontal lacquered board inscribed with "Văn Võ Trung Hiếu," which Emperor Bảo Đại presented to the homeowner in 1937.

These artifacts make An Hiên something more than an architectural structure — a place where the daily lives of the families who once lived here can still, faintly, be read.

One of the most memorable experiences at An Hiên is enjoying tea or listening to Huế folk music in the traditional nhà rường setting.

Amid the old wooden structures, natural light, and tranquil garden, traditional music feels more intimate and accessible. The space does not require elaborate decoration to create a truly special atmosphere.

This is also a way to truly understand an old house: not only by looking at its architecture, but also by imagining the conversations, cups of tea, and sounds that once filled its interior.

This same spirit lives on at Thiên Ý Villas, and above all in the House of Beasts — an authentic traditional Huế wooden mansion, moved and restored, its structure largely of lim wood set against rough stone, slate and other original materials.

Where An Hiên has kept the character of a traditional garden house intact for more than a century, the House of Beasts shows how those same values can still be lived, today.

Nhà rường such as An Hiên should not be confined to the past, or limited to the status of museum relics. These remarkable houses can serve as guides for continuing a tradition. Understanding the principles that gave them life allows that inspiration to be carried forward faithfully.

Many ancient houses in Huế have unfortunately disappeared through time, neglect and changing ways of life. Yet there are signs that the tradition they embody — one that carries so much of the soul of the ancient capital — can still endure. An interesting example can be found within the Imperial Citadel itself, at Thiên Ý Villas, where several houses have been established with the intention of carrying forward the principles, arts and way of life associated with Huế's architectural tradition.

Among them, the Villa of Beasts, or Nhà Thú, is particularly interesting. An Hiên preserves a remarkable expression of the traditional Huế nhà rường and, in doing so, offers an insight into the principles that shaped it. The House of Beasts belongs to the same architectural lineage and carries those principles into the present, adapting them to a different context and to the practical, cultural and spiritual conditions of its time.

A House Moved Through Time and Space

The House of Beasts, now situated within the Citadel at 20/31 Nguyễn Thiện Thuật, was not always there. It stood originally in the coastal fishing village of Vân Quật Đông, 10 km from Huế, where it remained in the same family for forty to fifty years, having itself come earlier from a location further inland, west of Huế.

Such mobility is one of the remarkable characteristics of these traditional wooden houses. Their carefully structured frames can be dismantled, sold and reassembled, allowing a house to move from one place to another and, when necessary, to become a family asset that can be realised or passed on.

The principal structure of Beasts — its columns and rafter system — follows the same general type and characteristics as An Hiên, reflecting their common geographical and historical origins. There is, however, a notable difference between the two. While An Hiên combines a wooden structure with brick walls, Beasts is now entirely wooden.

The evolution of traditional houses in Huế often followed a particular path. Fully wooden houses could gradually become houses in which the original wooden frame was retained while the more fragile, non-load-bearing walls were replaced with brick, better able to withstand the demanding climate of the region. A further stage often saw — sadly — the wooden structure itself replaced by a masonry house that retained only the general shape and appearance of the original model.

In this respect, the Villa of Beasts follows a more ancient model than An Hiên, despite being the more recent house. Its present form represents a restoration towards an earlier state: before being moved into the Citadel, Beasts had, like An Hiên, solid exterior walls and wooden internal partitions, just like An Hiên still has.

Its wooden walls are made from ancient lim wood, well suited to the demanding local climate. There are two different reasons for using recycled ancient Lim — or "iron" — wood. Firstly, ancient wood has largely stabilised, so its expansion and contraction are considerably reduced, and it is also much less prone to insect attack. As the saying goes: "if termites have left this wood alone for 80 years, they will probably not try now." The second reason is that new Lim wood, called Lim Nam Phi, or South African Lim, is imported and, while it is itself an exotic hardwood, it shares little more than its name with the indigenous species and is of considerably lesser quality. Lim wood from new cutting is now protected, as the indigenous species is endangered in Vietnam. When it comes to the roof covering, both An Hiên and Beasts use the elegant but relatively fragile flat tiles characteristic of Huế.

Water, Garden and Symbolic Protection

The immediate environment of a house is of particular importance in Vietnamese traditional architecture, as can be seen at An Hiên. Here again, Beasts introduces significant variations while essentially carrying the essence of the older model into the present.

Among the key elements are water, often in the form of a pond or giếng, serving as a symbolic focus; the garden, or enclosed and carefully ordered nature; and the bình phong, a built and decorated screen, usually bearing protective symbols and positioned on the axis between the gate and the house. Its traditional role was to shield the household from harmful winds and spirits.

Beasts retains these elements while arranging them in a new fashion. Their forms and functions have adapted to the house's vocation as a place of leisure and hospitality.

Water remains very present — perhaps even more so than in older models — through the swimming pool, fountains and a recreated giếng.

The bình phong has disappeared as an independent architectural element, yet its aesthetic and symbolic presence can still be recognised in the garden gate of the House of Beasts, with its dragon pediment and four sacred beasts in hammered bronze decorating the wooden doors.

Other auspicious creatures appear throughout the architecture: on the roof as acroteria, and in the magnificent ancient lim-wood eaves, where carved bats appear to hold one another.

The garden, its giếng and its fountain and the bình phong are therefore all present, although on a much reduced scale. Beasts is an urban house rather than a suburban garden residence like An Hiên. For this very reason, these elements become particularly concentrated and symbolic, almost reduced to their essential meaning.

Through these examples, we can see how ancient features and their symbolic functions endure. Some are even accentuated, while their direct connection with the older religious and ritual order has become considerably more relaxed. This means that they are often felt by contemporary guests rather than consciously understood. They bring a general sensation of wellbeing, deep harmony and contentment, without the guest necessarily being able to identify its cause or source. This reflects a broader shift towards an immanent experience of the spirit, made almost inevitable by the fading of the ancient knowledge that once gave these forms their meaning. Something of the benefit remains, but feeling alone is ultimately sterile if the mind is not brought along with it: the full experience cannot then lead back to the source, "beyond the essences". This is why, in a contemporary context, it is worthwhile making these references more explicit, so that both their rational basis and their representations can be understood anew.

The carved exterior elements are an interesting facet of this: entrance steps, statuary and roof ones. This derives from very well attested ancient Huế decorative habits, almost ubiquitous in the religious architectural context, and present as well in the private home for important personages, An Hiên being a minor example of it.

Such iconography originates from cultic constructions, from which it sometimes radiated towards private architecture. Beasts once again extends a hand towards the roots by sourcing its inspiration largely from the religious models while relaxing them anew, due to its own purpose as a domain. The stairs at Beasts depart from the rigid attitude and imposed silhouette of the former models: they change posture, allow themselves some contortions of curvy, baroque style and — the one above the pool — seem to contemplate them with a meditative and nostalgic mood. Nonetheless, the relation to their hieratic predecessors will be missed by no one, as well, importantly, as the protective role, disposed as they are.

On the roof, we again have an interesting mix, one that denotes some obvious iconographic liberty but also some strong lineage to the tradition. One finds a ceramic con nghê, a mythical animal frequently represented in Vietnamese art, as well as two fish depicted in an ancient manner — figures associated with the element of water, yet unusual in this context. On the ridge stands a buffalo bearing a flag, an unmistakable reference to life on the land on the one hand, and, on the other, a significant religious reference. Together, these evoke the cultural acculturation characteristic of Huế, yet are highly unusual in such a composition.

Wood, Stone and the Order of Materials

The floors and materials of the two houses also deserve attention.

An Hiên uses traditional flat baked bricks, possibly dating from the time of its construction. A similar material, handmade and possessing the particular texture and light characteristic of artisan brick, is used at Beasts — but only on the terrace.

Inside the House of Beasts, the room that projects over the pool is floored in wood, making the entire space wooden from floor to ceiling and giving it an exceptionally warm atmosphere.

Elsewhere in the house, the floor is made from raw dark-green Lai Châu stone. The contrast is both aesthetic and material: below, a hard, cool and inert surface; above, an organic, living and warm one.

This recalls a long Vietnamese architectural tradition of combining a base in hard material with an organic superstructure, particularly in wood — a principle visible in numerous constructions, including within the Imperial Citadel, and not minor ones, such as Diên Thọ Palace and, even, the moon gate itself.

The reasons were both practical and symbolic. Hard materials protected more fragile ones from humidity and insects such as termites coming from the soil. The relationship also reflected a particular understanding of the natural order: earthly, or telluric, forces were regarded as life-giving and requiring balance and dialogue, rather than opposition, with the celestial, aerial and luminous forces above.

Nineteenth-century European travellers were sometimes surprised by the close relationship local inhabitants maintained with the ground, in contrast to the modern tendency towards complete physical separation from the soil, such as the use of concrete floors as an underlying base.

Nearby, the House of Birds offers another remarkable, if unusual, interpretation of the same traditional succession of mineral and organic orders. There, another authentic wooden nhà rường forms the second level of an otherwise solidly built structure.

The load-bearing structure provides another example of the same practical, symbolic — and therefore aesthetic — principle. At An Hiên, at Beasts and even on the upper floor of Birds, hardwood columns — generally made from lim — are simply placed, rather than fixed, upon carved stone bases.

An Hiên displays elegant geometric examples in grey limestone. Beasts, where artistic detail is particularly developed throughout the house, uses green Yên Bình stone, each base carved with a different beast and echoing other animals represented in low relief along the lower walls.

Birds adopts a different, though equally remarkable, approach: geometric bases carved from richly veined Đắk Lắk stone, their soft curves forming a subtle contrast with the blue-grey handmade Huế tiles of the floor.

These are all exquisite examples of the traditional nhà rường, faithful to its underlying principles while, in different ways, carrying its architectural and decorative possibilities further.

A Different Centre of the House

At An Hiên, and more generally in traditional houses of this type, the central space is dedicated to the family altar and ancestral piety. Such an arrangement would not have been appropriate in a house intended for leisure and open to guests, such as the House of Beasts.

The importance of the central space has nevertheless remained.

At Beasts, it continues as a place of gathering, furnished with traditional antique pieces and organised around a striking red kitchen. The space is partly enclosed by a vibrant carved wooden screen, designed by artist Nguyễn Niên of Biên Hòa and executed by a woodcarver. It represents a joyous multitude of tropical animals of every kind, evoking a mythological world of animal creation.

The function has changed, while the centrality of the space remains. The House of Beasts carries forward the importance of the central gathering space, giving it a new meaning within a house intended for a different use.

Exploring the furniture used and displayed inside Beasts in comparison to An Hiên, and seeing the lineages and the evolution, is no less interesting. On the one hand, we find authentic ancient furniture, some of it, by coincidence, very similar — such as the very typical Huế sideboard with shell incrustation.

But we have as well interesting divergences, such as a bed sculpted with geometric and floral carvings, very much heir to the Nguyễn-Huế decorative style.

In the same decorative style and on a grand scale — somewhat in between the size of an armchair and of a traditional tea-seating platform — a hood-armchair, all lattice work, quite unique.

An Hiên's own piece here is not a lamp but an ancient standing clothes hanger, carved with a dragon in a style more typical of southern China and northern Vietnam than of Huế; its counterpart at Beasts is an actual dragon-carved lamp. We can note as well a couple of ancient lanterns, made to the delight of the amateur since they conjugate in one the art of the wood carver and of the glass painter.

For those who wish to carry something of this spirit beyond a single visit, Thiên Ý Villas offers the chance to stay within it — at Beasts itself, or among its sister villas nearby, each built on the same principles of tradition, craft and hospitality explored throughout this article. From there, it is an easy step back to An Hiên, and to the other landmarks that give this corner of Huế its particular character, from Thiên Mụ Pagoda to the palaces and gardens of the Imperial City itself. Thiên Ý Villas is simply a good place to begin such a journey, and to return to, between one discovery and the next.

What is a "nhà rường"?

A nhà rường is a traditional Vietnamese wooden house, most closely associated with the Huế region, built from a jointed timber frame — columns, beams and rafters fitted together through mortise-and-tenon carpentry, without iron nails — and typically arranged as a three-bay, two-wing dwelling set within a garden.

Where is An Hiên Garden House located?

An Hiên Garden House stands at 58 Nguyễn Phúc Nguyên Street, in the Kim Long area on the northern bank of the Perfume River, Huế, with its main façade facing south near Dã Viên Bridge.

Who were the owners of An Hiên?

An Hiên's first owner is said to have been a Nguyễn-dynasty princess. The estate passed in 1895 to Phạm Đăng Khanh, in 1920 to Tùng Lễ, and in 1936 to Nguyễn Đình Chi, Governor of Hà Tĩnh, whose wife Đào Thị Xuân Yến preserved the property after his death in 1940.

What is the Villa of Beasts (Nhà Thú)?

The Villa of Beasts, or Nhà Thú, is one of the three houses of Thiên Ý Villas, within the Imperial Citadel of Huế. It is an authentic nhà rường, relocated from the coastal village of Vân Quật Đông and restored to an all-timber structure in the same architectural lineage as An Hiên, with carved beasts, dragons and acroteria throughout its decoration.

Can visitors see the Villa of Beasts at Thiên Ý?

The Villa of Beasts is not open as a public attraction; access is possible only pending a special recommendation. It can, however, be rented as a private accommodation for guests staying at Thiên Ý.