I used to live nearby the area and whenever I was in a bad mood, I’d treat myself a taxi ride and it’s mandatory to pass by this house before arriving home. I have always wanted to take a photo of the place but was so lazy until a rainy cold day in early 2009, when I decided to tour the OLD CITY WALL with Papa Yang. Unfortunately, by the time I had this opportunity, this house was repainted in this "toy-town" way; the original brown wall is gone… gone forever!

Not much is known about this villa that hides in a lane called North Xian Mian Ci Alley. According to some Chinese sources on the internet, there used to be a temple called Xian Mian Ci on the alley that was built to worship the mother of Chinese textile, WANG PO DAO. The temple was later destroyed. This is probably why this alley is known as XIan Mian Zi (先棉祠), where Xian means Ancester, Mian means Cotton and Ci means Temple…. quite self explanatory, isn’t it?

According to the sources that lie around the internet, the orginal owner of the house was a businessman engaged in the shipping business abroad, thus the design of the house was very much Western influenced, and makes it so different from other Chinese courtyards in the area.

Later it was sold to the Chen Brothers, and said that part of the house is still occupied by the descendants of the Chen Family

A bell tower for the fire station erected in 1909…