Legal expert explains the paint color on an ancient villa under renovation

Mr. Emmanuel Cerise, Director of the Paris Region International Cooperation Support Agency in Vietnam, affirmed that the ancient French villas at 49 Tran Hung Dao Street and 46 Hang Bai Street, Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi are being restored with colors closest to the original.

Regarding the project of an ancient French villa that is being restored and preserved and the color of the building is receiving great attention from the public, on the afternoon of April 15, the People's Committee of Hoan Kiem District and French experts had a meeting and informed the press right at this building.

Mr. Emmanuel Cerise, Director of the Paris Region International Cooperation Support Agency in Vietnam, informed about the color of the old French villa being restored.

Speaking to the press, Mr. Emmanuel Cerise, Director of the Paris Region International Cooperation Support Agency in Vietnam, the unit coordinating with Hoan Kiem district to implement this project, said: "We confirm that the project has not reached the final stage of restoration, not yet completed. However, the basic colors used are exactly the same as the original colors of the original project." According to Mr. Emmanuel Cerise, the upper floor of the villa has not been tiled, creating a somewhat impressive feeling. The lower floor has been tiled like the original of the project. "These are the original colors and we confirm to respect the original," said Mr. Emmanuel Cerise. Regarding public opinion that recently, some projects to renovate and restore old French villas have chosen a faded color scheme, deliberately showing the color of time, Mr. Emmanuel Cerise affirmed: “This is not the way to truly preserve a building, we must respect the original when it was first built. If we deliberately fade the color over time, then with the impact of the sun, rain and wind, the color will fade again. Therefore, with the villa being renovated on Tran Hung Dao, this color scheme will have some adjustments in the coming time, but basically, we will not change it. We respect the original color scheme”. Notably, the Director of the Paris Region International Cooperation Support Agency in Vietnam said that when implementing this conservation project, the unit could not find the original documents of the building. If they could be found, they would certainly be black and white documents, not showing the paint color.

Mr. Emmanuel Cerise, Director of the Paris Region International Cooperation Support Agency in Vietnam, answered the press interview.

Fortunately, during the exploration of the mortar layers outside the building, experts found the original mortar layer with this red color. After 100 years, the color layer has changed to some extent. Based on some old color photos taken of Hanoi buildings, it shows that there was a color combination between yellow lines and red lines along with fake brick lines. For example, the Trung Vuong school project nearby also used a similar color before. However, when preserving, there were some changes. The Director of the Paris Region International Cooperation Support Agency in Vietnam said that there will be 2 photos with the background of buildings with the same color scheme as this project is doing. Those are photos taken by a French photographer in 1915, more than 100 years ago. The shooting technique at that time was based on stained glass, the color tones were only relative, not like today's digital technology, not like the color tones seen by the naked eye. Answering reporters' questions about the progress and quality of the project, Mr. Emmanuel Cerise affirmed that this is an ancient villa renovation project, not a restoration project. Because if it is restored, it must be brought back to its original state when the project was first built, while here, when the project started, some parts could not be restored such as: Stairs, ladder tubes were demolished a long time ago, wooden floors were demolished; the new yard floor was raised more than 40cm... Many ancient villa renovation projects in Hanoi are very difficult to completely restore, but must be based on the current state, trying to keep whatever is left.

Trung Nguyen/Tin Tuc Newspaper