Pham Ngoc Giao, 85, a third-generation member of the family, is among the descendants preserving the property in Alley 6 on Dinh Liet Street, Hoan Kiem Ward.
His father, Pham Van Thanh, founder of the once-famous Su Tu (Lion) jewelry shop, acquired the property in 1945. The mansion has remained in the family ever since.
Giao’s parents, Pham Van Thanh and Pham Thi Te, hailed from Chau Khe, a jewelry-making village in the former northern Hai Duong Province.
In the early 1940s, they moved to Hanoi to start their business and opened the jewelry shop, which quickly became a famous destination for gold buyers across northern Vietnam.
As their business thrived, Giao’s parents acquired three large properties in prime Old Quarter locations on Hang Bac, Hang Voi, and Hang Be Streets.
In 1945, the couple sold all three to buy land and construct a garden villa on an area of nearly 700 square meters in Alley 6, Dinh Liet Street.
The house was designed by architect Pham Khac He (also known as Pham Hoang), who belonged to the first generation of Vietnamese architects trained during the French colonial era.