Old Saigon Building of the Week – 19-21 Tran Hung Dao, Late 1920s

The flatiron building at 19-21 Trần Hưng Đạo

This article was published previously in Saigoneer http://saigoneer.com/

One of the real architectural gems in Hồ Chí Minh City’s District 1, the flatiron building at the junction of Trần Hưng Đạo, Ký Con and Yersin streets (original address 19-21 boulevard Galliéni) was constructed in the 1930s to provide both offices and residential accommodation for the family of Nguyễn Văn Hảo, patriarch of the Comptoir Nguyễn Văn Hảo Saïgonnais, one of the city’s leading automotive spares companies which sold vehicle accessories from the shop spaces on the ground floor.

The Nguyễn Văn Hảo Theatre pictured in the 1930s

Nguyễn Văn Hảo clearly made a lot of money from this business, because in 1940 it was he who paid for the construction of the nearby Nguyễn Văn Hảo Theatre, one of Saigon’s earliest cinemas, which in 1945 was the venue for the public meeting which resolved to launch the August Revolution in the south.

In the early 1970s, the theatre was remodelled to a design by Vũ Bá Đính and after 1975 it became the Công nhân theatre. Today that venue – located near the Trần Hưng Đạo/De Tham street junction – serves as the main venue of the Hồ Chí Minh City Drama Theatre.

But back to the Nguyễn Văn Hảo flatiron building. Although it’s now in poor condition, it is still fully occupied by tenants – including, on the top floor, descendants of Nguyễn Văn Hảo.

The flatiron building at 19-21 Trần Hưng Đạo

Tim Doling is the author of the guidebook Exploring Saigon-Chợ Lớn – Vanishing heritage of Hồ Chí Minh City (Nhà Xuất Bản Thế Giới, Hà Nội, 2019)

A full index of all Tim’s blog articles since November 2013 is now available here.

Join the Facebook group pages Saigon-Chợ Lớn Then & Now to see historic photographs juxtaposed with new ones taken in the same locations, and Đài Quan sát Di sản Sài Gòn – Saigon Heritage Observatory for up-to-date information on conservation issues in Saigon and Chợ Lớn.