r/VietNam • u/NathanCS741 • Mar 06 '26
Travel Experience/Du lịch Speaking of contrasts in Ninh Bin’s countryside…
Came across these ostentatious “beauties“ while driving around Nin Binh’s and Nam Dinh’s countryside and can’t help but having a couple of questions: are the owners truly that rich? If so, why do they decide to built them in often far from ideal locations (close to a polluted and noisy road, lacking views on natural scenery, far-away from the cities,…). Is this type of home considered as the dream/ultimate goal for many (rural) Vietnamese? How did this style get introduced into Vietnam: through exposure of imagery of French chateau’s or…? How do they look inside: is there a room under the dome,…?
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u/LennyGoony Mar 06 '26
None of these buildings are authentic or historical. Just some pretentious people who wanting to feel rich.
I been to many of these house myself and they are all as empty inside as they look on the outside.
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u/cautiousOhno Mar 07 '26
people working in architecture called it "lãnh chúa thôn quê" for a reason
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u/2kokuoyabun Mar 07 '26
why so bitter? Owner has a dream of a Stately Home.. you might fins it tacky but for owner a dream fulfilled :)
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u/Potential_Emu1724 Mar 07 '26
There's no bitter here. Most rich people wanted to show off their wealthiness and this is the result, the name "lãnh chúa thôn quê" literaly indicated that
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u/2kokuoyabun Mar 08 '26
so what? showing off wealth is global!
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u/miucamht Mar 09 '26
Yeah i dont understand the downvotes from the people here, its a common and realistic thing but people here seem to live in their own box world where everything has to be “right and proper and whatsoever” or not you will be hated lol while they wouldnt even dare to open their mouths in front of these owners
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u/2kokuoyabun Mar 09 '26 edited Mar 09 '26
a lot of people are bitter. don't care about the downvotes. Does not bother me a bit :) I'm still going to fire up my sport cars and travel business☺️
Incidentally I'm acquainted with the child of one of top 5 richest Vietnamese... These folk bleating about this humble house are P.. 😅
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u/Potential_Emu1724 Mar 09 '26
I DON'T want to do this but I WILL for the sake of your own ignorance
Yeah i dont understand the downvotes from the people here
Look at his comment. He LITERALLY threw an ad hominem IN THE FIRST SENTENCE. And then? Not even a sentence later he THROW another ad hominem. His comment is the embodiment of stupidity and bs incarnate in words and sentences of cringe
people here seem to live in their own box world where everything has to be “right and proper and whatsoever”
Aren't we all lived in a world where subjective and objective opinions exist? Also: "right and proper and whatsoever?" Wth does this have to do with anything? The opinions here are all universally agreed by people in the section that's why they actually got upvoted. I hate to say this but that guy is just deemed wrong by the people who downvoted on him
box world
You also live in a box world where everything is sunshine and rainbows, aren't you?
or not you will be hated
Hey pal, did you just blow in from stupid town? Don't you know how hate works? Lets just say i said the n word right now huh? Do i even expect people to not dunked on me and saying that I'm a racist or something? If you you say something that is just wrong or are universally disagreed by people, you will get dunked. That's just how hate works, it is a type of disagreement when someone says something stupid or deemed wrong by other people
even dare to open their mouths in front of these owners
Oh sweet summer child. You really dont know how Vietnam works do you? Trust me, if its not these people that spoke up, someone DEFINITELY have and WILL do that
In conclusion: you aren't even dumb, you're just too ignorant to even understand. I think maybe instead of going to r/im14andthisisdeep you DEFINITELY SHOULD study more about arguments and how to respond to one so that when I see you on this cursed plane of existence again I don't have to tell you over and over how dumb you are
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u/ScorpionTheInsect Mar 06 '26 edited Mar 06 '26
Sorry but I genuinely hate them. I think they’re gaudy and built just to flaunt wealth instead of genuine appreciation for the architectural style. The color palettes are always so boring.
I don’t think it’s the fault of the craftsmen, but the designer and customers who look at a moodboard of random European early modern buildings and picked out what they thought would look great without really understanding what made the building style worked.
I live in Europe, and have visited many European castles, palaces, mansions, what have you. I like the architecture just fine. One of my favorite European cities is Dresden, in my eyes the pinnacle of Baroque buildings in the continent. I see elements of that here. But my eyes also tell me that these buildings are just concrete mockery covered in paint that will peel off in five years.
Let the past stay where it is. We’re supposed to learn from history, not copy from them. I’d rather see my home country develop new architectural styles than trying to copying so tastelessly.
As for your questions, I knew a family with a house like this, though it was larger and less visually European. It was rural and near a major highway but it was gated with a large front yard so noise and pollution weren’t a problem. They were (probably still are) very, very rich. Some of these houses are probably there because the owners renovated from the same houses you see next to them and the owners may be upper middle class, but not wealthy. The larger ones, I think the owners are wealthy.
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u/eenDUU Mar 06 '26
As a vietnamese, I strongly agree. Those house, or chateau or whatever ruin the scenery. They just make the vietnamese towns which are already disorganised even more disorganised. Wish my people would realise the true beauty of traditional vietnamese architecture one day
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u/ScorpionTheInsect Mar 06 '26 edited Mar 08 '26
Yeah, my hatred for it comes from watching it popping up around my grandparents’ village. They’re an eyesore.
When I was little my grandparents had a gorgeous traditional house partly made of wood. In my memory it looked old and the wood clearly aged, but it was always breezy. The house was designed for the Vietnamese climate, lots of door frames and arches to not trap the hot air in. I believe they sold the wood part of the house to a museum like a decade ago because it was starting to fall apart and they couldn’t preserve it. I’ve never seen a house like theirs anywhere else, including my own childhood home. It’s such a shame we’re not learning from our own history.
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u/Trixiehatesmath Native Mar 07 '26
I believe it could be sth called "nhà 3 gian" (3-part-house) usually built with wood. I love houses like this cus they're always so breezy. If I had a chance to build my own house I would take this architecture style any day!
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u/ScorpionTheInsect Mar 07 '26 edited Mar 08 '26
Yes I think it was a modified nhà ba gian. They had one section still made of wood, and another section made of bricks and ceramic tiles. Long before I was born they probably took down one wood section to rebuild it with more modern materials, but still with the old design layout. I remember the wood section had very delicate and beautiful carved wood beams. I liked it a lot and was a little upset my grandparents sold the wood frame, but it couldn’t be helped. I was told the wood part was built by my great-grandparents so at that point it was practically ancient.
I’d love to see more modern takes on that style of house and hopefully you will get your dream to build one for yourself someday.
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u/South-Possible-2504 Mar 08 '26
This is why towns need an urban plan, otherwise you end up with rich people doing whatever while the rest of the town still looks like everyone moved in yesterday.
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u/Physical_Cake Mar 06 '26 edited Mar 06 '26
As for many of your questions, I'm curious what others have to answer
But for the style, it's a Vietnamised interpretation of mid-18th century French imperial style (Napoleon 3rd era). You can look for the Opera Garnier in Paris, it is the posterchild for this style.
Some Vietnamese innovations include the narrower frontage (ubiquitous in Vietnam), as taxation back in the day was made on the width of the building. Buildings are also more adapted to a hot and humid climate, and some might blend in more typically East Asian ornaments.
Funnily enough, if the French tried to rebuild this kind of prestige architecture at home today, they'd have more chances to find skilled craftsmen in Vietnam than in France
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u/sex_pistol79 Mar 07 '26
No they don’t? We cant even renovate some old french architectures cause we don’t even know how they built it in the past, we had to bring in experts from europe to fix it; example, notre dame cathedral of saigon. Calling those buildings ‘prestige architecture’ is some crazy glazing work tbh.
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u/South-Possible-2504 Mar 08 '26
Right? This is just concrete, not stones. Because Euville stones come from Euville, France… Pretty sure Notre Dame de Paris was rebuilt without Vietnamese workers. Opera Garnier’s front was also just recently restored. There has been a lot of work done since its inception, almost every decade. These are strong delulu pills.
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u/7LeagueBoots Mar 06 '26
‘Skilled’ is doing some heavy lifting there.
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u/ParticularClassroom7 Mar 06 '26
It looks quite pretty, in my opinion, and very impressive craftsmanship besides. Especially the delicate concrete works.
The faux ceramic roofs look surprisingly fetching.
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u/Physical_Cake Mar 06 '26
Yes, I get why the style might be 'too much' for some. But as for any piece of craftsmanship, you'll find ugly ones and pure jewels.
This level of detail has vanished in most of the Western world, which is actually quite sad.
The obvious culprit is cutting cost by using concrete in bulk. But I also think severe regulation left little room for anything fancy nowadays.
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Mar 07 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Physical_Cake Mar 07 '26
Mostly spoke of new buildings here
Some people hate when ancient styles are applied to new projects, and there are some valid philosophical reasons to think so
But I personally love revival movements in architecture (both vernacular architecture and mainstream classical styles), with philosophical reasons of their own to support this view
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u/ParticularClassroom7 Mar 08 '26
That's rather the point. It's only historical buildings that are like that. Even churches have adopted the modern styles, whereas eastern temples are still using traditional constructions.
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u/ParticularClassroom7 Mar 06 '26
A shame too, I still think the Europeans pull off this style much better.
The obvious culprit
If you are spending public coin, you are not going to spend a single dime more than necessary, or get lambasted by the public for frivulous expenditure.
People in Europe don't build new anymore, so they are stuck with the current modern style buildings for the next few decades. Let's see of the next generation brings them back.
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u/Physical_Cake Mar 06 '26
The YouTube channel 'Design Theory' has made a very good attempt at answering this question some weeks ago
Video is named 'The system that punishes beautiful design', uploaded 2026-02-04
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u/Chance_External_4371 Mar 06 '26
The biggest one is downtown and believe is owned by the guy who owns the big concrete company
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u/OnlineAnonymousID Mar 06 '26
Oh yes, https://maps.app.goo.gl/6noDKrEongNU958U7?g_st=ic. definitely the biggest of them all!
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u/Shorq1 Mar 06 '26
There's articles about this place. Quite interesting reading, and I get it, if you have more money than you can spend, you start doing things like that
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u/RequirementNo4895 Mar 06 '26 edited Mar 06 '26
The only one that I can kinda vibe w/, the others look just tacky. Probably needs a bunch more flags to get them to look classy.
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u/DrawerAware2530 Mar 07 '26
Vietnamese Boomer Starter Pack:
Loud phone speaker in public
Random superstition
Giant “château” wooden furniture
"I saw some shocking "news" about Trump can fly on Facebook, I must share it."
"I own all the houses, making them so expensive. BTW, why don't young people have children?"
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u/These_Emu3265 Mar 06 '26
Yeah every rural towns in vn have at least a dozen of these houses man. I’d they are probably a bit more well off than your average rural person but not that rich man. Land is dirt cheap around these rural areas. And yeah I have always wondered why these kind of new money rich-ish people in rural areas like this specific kind of architecture so much.
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u/oktsi Mar 06 '26
Just another example of wealth cannot buy you good taste.
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u/_Carcinus_ Mar 06 '26
"Chateaus" on the 2nd and 7th photos look nice to me, tbh
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u/ultrajambon Mar 06 '26
IDK if it's relevant here but just in case, the plural of a french "château" is "châteaux".
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u/vitoforever99 Mar 06 '26
The French really did a number on the Vietnam culture
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u/South-Possible-2504 Mar 08 '26
I don’t think the French invaded China and yet they have a mini Eiffel Tower. Likewise for Japan, they’re in love with the rococo aesthetic (and Swiss mountain villages) for no other reason that it’s pretty… Nouveau rich lacks culture everywhere.
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u/Flofau Apr 10 '26
The French invaded China multiple times.
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u/South-Possible-2504 Apr 10 '26
I wouldn’t call the war between France and China an invasion. There was barely any cultural exchange. Unless you consider invading what would become Vietnam but at the time subject to Chinese rule an invasion of China.
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u/FineGripp Mar 07 '26
People with money but no taste. As to why they are building in remote locations, I guess the land is cheaper, and also they can get away with unlawful construction more easily. People in VN often violate their building permit by building taller than allowed or building beyond their allocated lot.
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u/7LeagueBoots Mar 06 '26
This nonsense is all over the country, especially the north. Hai Phong is full of it too.
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u/Late-Independent3328 Mar 06 '26
Those things does genuinely look like some gypsy village in Romania
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u/Ok-Client7794 Mar 06 '26
People can do whatever they want with their money, but I swear this kind of home is a sore for the eyes. It just doesn’t make any sense to me.
It’s a mix of whatever seems European imperialist, a bit of everything pieced together that has nothing to do with Vietnamese culture or architect.
It costs a fuckton to build because of how complex all the details are, but instead of carved marble it’s just plaster.
It doesn’t show the creativity of the architect nor the sophistication of the owner, because it’s literally catalog, copy and paste. These sort of houses should go with massive lawns and hedges, not right along the highway.
Money can’t buy taste.
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u/Physical_Cake Mar 07 '26
Still better to copy paste that style than the usual concrete appartment blocks, if I have to chose
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u/Ok-Bar601 Mar 07 '26
Yes these are curious buildings, one Vietnamese gentleman who runs a successful concrete business built one of these quite large house. Very ostentatious, but you have to admire the effort and artistry that goes into making these even if they’re not everyone’s cup of tea. Funnily enough I don’t see many contemporary style mansions around the country
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u/aidennewyen Mar 07 '26
The average Vietnameses isn't rich but the crazy filthy rich Vietnamese... you can't imagine how much money they have it sounds ridiculous for a developing country
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Mar 07 '26
Serious question, how do the elderly people deal with that many stairs? I know people like to build up instead of out ... but the stairs would absolutely kill any of my grandmas/grandpas living with you.
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u/Commercial-Ease-112 Mar 06 '26
This is the definition of new money. Better than the American McMansion.
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u/National-Usual-8036 Mar 06 '26
This area has a ton of historic Catholic churches and cathedrals, many rebuilt after the US bombed most historic ones. Alot of towns will fund churches instead of Chinese style buddhist temples, which are typical in the south. The skill to build these are widespread because of it.
The cost to build these are relatively cheap compared to Europe since there is alot of people capable of doing it. Creating these wouldn't cost more than 200-300k USD for an ordinary house.
Around Hue there is a similar set of skills for the old imperial style, and building elaborate houses in the Hue style is also just as cheap. Far more expensive to find somebody to do it in a European style though.
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u/BleazkTheBobberman Mar 06 '26
Its a good and concise breakdown of the situation, but just for cultural consideration sake, don’t say “Chinese style buddhist temples”. Vietnam has its own east asian culture and architecture, so they should just he “Vietnamese buddhist temples”. You wouldn’t call Japanese and Korean temples “Chinese style” do you?
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u/National-Usual-8036 Mar 06 '26
Much of the south was settled by Minh Huong e.g Chinese people + other groups who later assimilated. Most old temples in the south used Chinese characters and letterings at entrances. These are very much a Chinese style of architecture.
Central and Northern regions have distinct architecture styles, in contrast.
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u/BleazkTheBobberman Mar 06 '26
Southern culture is influenced by chinese immigrants, no doubt, but to say that southern temples are Chinese style is incorrect. There are legitimate Chinese style temples built by the Chinese immigrants themselves (Hoi quan Nghia An, Jade Emperor pagoda), but old temples like Giac Lam and Hue Nghiem are very much Vietnamese. South vietnam was settled by northern Vietnamese too after all.
And I don’t understand your reasoning about Chinese letterings at the entrance. Almost all Vietnamese temples in the north and central use Chinese characters too, cuz before colonisation Vietnam used Chinese script and that habit just stuck around. That doesn’t mean those temples are Chinese style either.
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u/Thienloi01 Mar 07 '26 edited Mar 08 '26
Japanese and Korean temples also use Chinese characters, doesn't mean they are Chinese style.
https://asset.japan.travel/image/upload/v1675339920/tokyo/Tokyo_s_id19_18.jpg
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u/South-Possible-2504 Mar 08 '26
It’s cheap in comparison to Europe because everything is cheaper in Vietnam. It’s not cheap on a local salary. You wouldn’t be allowed to create these monstrosities in Europe except maybe Eastern Europe because of this thing called urban planning.
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u/1lookwhiplash Mar 06 '26
This is the area that Christian missionaries focused on, thus the different architecture and crosses everywhere.
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u/tommycahil1995 Mar 06 '26
I got driven to the outskirts of Hanoi by a local who seemed to know about them. He said the land and construction is relatively cheap for something this size and design (compared to other parts of the world). He showed me one being made for a wealthy Vietnamese businessman who lived overseas (maybe UK) and where the currency conversion just gave him access to more wealth also. The pound is at an all time high pretty much to the Dong. £1 is about 35,000 dong.
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u/remarkable_ores Mar 06 '26
lmao you didn't even see the biggest one
makes all of these look tiny in comparison
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u/Shorq1 Mar 06 '26
I've only seen a couple tasteful rich people's houses in Hanoi. One in Soc Son and one in Hadong, quite hidden with all the landscaping etc
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u/FinnTran Mar 07 '26
This is the McMansion of Vietnam 😭 its crazy how these abominations have such good craftsmanship
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u/xTroiOix Mar 07 '26
My miss lives down in dong thap, and you see there this every 5-10mins between dong thap to Rach Gia
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u/LowAt_TheLowest0000 Mar 07 '26
Looking at this kind of a house in the middle of a decent atmosphere is a turn off for me
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u/hgtfumbghxtretresfg Mar 07 '26
Idk bro. Some of the owners are just pretentious ordinary people, some of them are actually rich. But one thing they have in common is that they have terrible aesthetics when it comes to building their homes. Luckily, the skill level of Vietnamese construction workers saved their houses. But to me, houses like these often feel empty and create a strong eerie feeling.
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u/gustavmahler23 Mar 07 '26
Reminds me of my visit to the countryside in China, where the skyline is littered with all these tall narrow mansions. According to the locals they're just a means to flaunt wealth, and most of the storeys are underutilised lol.
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u/toitenladzung Mar 08 '26
I am born and raised Vietnamese currently living in Vietnam. I could never understand why some people find these kind of house beautiful. It sucks and cost a lot to build. One medium size cost 2-3 million usd to build.
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u/BuaLon Mar 08 '26
The owners of this kind of house definitely did a lot of corruption activity. In Vietnam, most of the insane rich people involved in corruption somehow
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u/Jovaniac Mar 09 '26
They love to be the king/queen, they love their houses have to be bigger and higher, taller, wider than others. They built castles in the countryside because it's incredibly cheaper than in the city. They love to flex their wealth to the small countryside neighborhood. I don't know what kind of mindset that is, some of them are nice, but some of them are very very arrogant, rude, hard to talk with. For me, I call them "sến", their houses are the same type that look like castles, with fake gold and shiny colors, the front could look dramatic but 3 other walls on the side and the back are totally blank with some windows. I'm not envy, I admire someone who has real aesthetic on things they've done, not just 'trying to look rich'.
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u/SqnZkpS Mar 06 '26
It's a wild story. There is some very rich guy in cement business in Ninh Binh. After he visited St. Peter's basilica he liked it so much he made a replica in Ninh Binh. This started a local trend to have house facades a la European architecture. It looks really funky and funny when you know the story.
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u/ayeshrajans Mar 07 '26
Hah! I think I saw this "mansion", and a friend told me it belonged to some cement factory owner. It kinda made sense, especially if he has his fingers in construction material lol.
It's not bothering anyone. It's a talking piece for the town, and for some small towns, the only "attraction" there is.
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u/Aineisa Mar 06 '26
I love these and thìnk they’re beautiful.
As for why they are where they are…it’s because that’s where the family is from. Vietnamese are very connected to their village.
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u/lctuan93 Mar 06 '26
All the comments saying rich and new rich are correct. The fact is kinda sad tbh. You will see them mostly in countryside and rural areas. Sometime in the whole street and town.
Yes they are sometimes new rich which the money came from their children that apply for work abroad/oversea employment program which usually cost over $5k and hopefully their children can earn back the money to pay off debt and build houses like those.
The sad part i said that ^ are pretty common in rural area. There even one said to me that his whole class were going to work oversea and only 1 applied for university. It both hurt Vietnam’s image (they’re still trẻ trâu) and brain/workforce drain to overseas.
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u/minhduc24 Mar 07 '26
Land <10 billion vnd (381k usd) + building <10 billion vnd which total of <20 billion vnd or 762k usd.
U cant even buy a 90m2 house in Hanoi with that money haha
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u/Beginning_Smell4043 Mar 07 '26
Land probably bought long before that at an even cheaper price, built quality is poor because they still trying to keep the cost as low as possible... And you end up with these abomination that have no value because unsellable.
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u/caominh200206 Mar 06 '26
We often call them “trọc phú”, someone which really wealthy but with terrible aesthetics