Beijing Hutong Conservation Plan - Tibet Heritage Fund

) Building condition
b-1. Condition
The strict traditional space delineation of the Beijing courtyard house started to become more flexible after the fall of
the Qing dynasty. Rules proscribing designs and sizes in relation to the hierarchies of imperial society were no longer in
effect. During the social reforms of the 1950s and the Cultural Revolution, courtyards were sub-divided, and in order
to accommodate thousands of homeless people after the 1976 Tangshan earthquake, further sub-division were made,
leading to a sprouting of flimsy extension buildings that fill up most of the courtyards of publicly-owned housing.
Residents have also often modified or reconstructed the original buildings. However, during our survey, we found it
was possible in many case to determine the historic structure.
Courtyard houses converted into public housing have been most drastically modified, but some buildings in the survey
area marked as cultural relic sites have preserved their original structure reasonably well, even if used as housing.
Grading the three areas, in Chaodou we found the largest number of intact structures, in Gulou most courtyards have
been filled with extensions, and in Yandai, the street fronts with their old carved windows are preserved, but inside the
original structures have been lost in almost every case.
b-1-1. Common structural problems
The most common building problems that we found were roof leaks, damages to the timber structure caused
by insects and rot, and ground humidity creeping up the walls. Most problems were caused by lack of
maintenance. Poorly-lit rooms with poor ventilation increase the problems caused by humidity, and
rehabilitation must include mechanisms to correct these faults. In regards to rehabilitation, several of the sites
require extensive repairs of the roofs, but after an initial investment to correct decade-old damages, regular
maintenance will be not very costly if done on an annual basis. We found rehabilitation preferable to
reconstruction.
Courtyard open space isocupied by extention buildings
Timber structure damaged by roofleake, in many cases
structure problems caused by water and humidity
35