Hangzhou Villas: West Lake and the Old City

In brief

Villas are one of the largest groups on Hangzhou's list. Most were built between the 1910s and the 1940s, when officials, bankers, doctors and merchants from Shanghai and Hangzhou built houses on the roads and hillsides around West Lake and in the city's newer streets. Typical features are two or three storeys of brick, or brick and timber, sloping tiled roofs and a mix of Chinese and Western details.

Where they stand

At least 26 of the 54 stand on the roads and hillsides directly around West Lake: 12 on Beishan Road along the north shore, 6 on Nanshan Road on the east shore, 3 on Lingyin Road towards the hills, and others on Gushan Road, the Geling hill, Shihan Road and Shengtang Road. Liu's Villa and Wang's Villa are lakeside estates too. The rest are in the old city, on streets such as Anji Road, Jiaochang Road and Dengxin Alley.

Beishan Road is the easiest group to walk: it runs west along the north shore below Baoshi Hill from the Broken Bridge, where the Bai Causeway begins.

What to look for

The listing descriptions return to a few features: two or three storeys in brick, stone or brick and timber, sloping tiled roofs, verandas and colonnades, and a blend of Chinese and Western detail. Many carry names in the old manner ending in lu, a cottage or retreat, such as Ru Lu Villa, Sui Lu Villa and Heng Lu Villa, which the physician Zhang Xingyi built in 1935 at 202 Nanshan Road.

All 54 on the list

Sources

Hangzhou Memory groups the buildings by type from their names and descriptions; the city's lists do not classify them. Names and descriptions come from English Wikipedia's batch lists, and Chinese names, periods and addresses from 杭州市历史建筑 on Chinese Wikipedia, both CC BY-SA 4.0.