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The Saigon’s historic main street goes from the Cathedral to the river. Its name changed three times following Saigon’s history, known as Rue Catinat, then Tu Do (Freedom) and now Dong Khoi (Total Revolution).
Consulates, prestigious companies, wealthy families business set their offices and apartments on that street where to be seen was the must.
213 Dong Khoi St. Block at the corner of Le Thanh Ton St was built in 1930s by Brossard et Mopin, a French engineering firm.
During the colonial era, the department store Galeries Lafayette had its address there among the Consulates of Portugal, Austria and Spain.
But mainly it was apartments to be rented. In Graham Greene’s novel The Quiet American, Fowler, the hero, was looking for the pied-a-terre there.
After 75, and the departure of the owners, it was seized by the authority and given to their administrative officials for compensation as war rewards.
The series was taken in 2009. They are very rare documents, the only ones to show completely apartments, corridors in poor state of maintenance, but with living people.
Lift are broken and the inhabitants had to take inside and outside stairs.
It was also at the time the first “creative” hub with designers, architects and artists because the rent was quite low, about 200usd.
Due to real estate market’s pressure, it has been destroyed in 2014. But finally, nothing came out except a colonial gimmick extension for the People’s Committee building.
