87 Mã Mây Ancient House

In front of you is one of the few traditional houses in the Old Quarter open to the public. From outside it looks narrow and modest, but inside it stretches back like a tube.

1Long, narrow houses

In the Old Quarter, shops were taxed according to the width of their street frontage, or so it is often said. What is certain is that these "tube houses" have frontages of just a few metres and run tens of metres deep. The shop was at the front; behind it came a courtyard for light and air, then the living rooms, the kitchen and the ancestral altar.

2This house's story

The house at number 87 was built, according to most sources, in the late 19th century, though some date it earlier. Several generations of merchants lived here and, until 1954, it was a shop selling medicinal herbs. Afterwards it was divided among five families. In 1998 and 1999 it was restored through a partnership between Hanoi and the French city of Toulouse, and it became a model for other restorations in the quarter.

Inside, everything is dark wood, roof tiles and shady courtyards: a small respite from the noise of the street.

According to the most common explanation, the name of Mã Mây Street recalls the rattan, mây in Vietnamese, once sold here. Today it is one of the quarter's most touristy streets, but if you look up you'll spot old façades between the signs.

3What to look for

• The narrow façade with its wooden doors.
• The depth of the house, which you can sense from the entrance.
• The neighbouring houses, with colonial-style balconies and mouldings above the shops.