Band 4+: In some countries, more and more people are becoming interested in finding out about the history of the house or building they live in. What are the reasons for this? How can people research this?

In some different nations, history of the houses or bulidings that the people live in are becoming a interesting topic to them. In my opinion, the reason for this activity is for fixing and repairing. And there also have some method to learn about the history of the buildings and houses.

The demand of tracing historical background of dwelling often comes from damaged components of the old houses which is in existance for a long time and it needs to be fixed. This problems usually arises in high aged buildings due to long time wear and tear, a few details need restoration. But if we do not understand the history, we can not find correct components. With wrong fixing details, it can lead to the lost of beauty, historicity. Learn about building’s history can facilitate the process of finding right features. Furthermore, depend on different countries’ policy, historical houses and buildings are under strict regulations about fixing and repairing, especially in heritage district. The alteration of house’s components must be the same with the previous materails. Such as Old Quarter Hoi An in Quang Ninh, house’s owner can be punished if they violate the rules about fixing. That is to say that learn about their house’s history can benefit them.

There are many ways to do a reasearch about the history of the buildings and houses but which I would like to recommend is ask the previous house holder. At least they are well-informed about their old house, you can contact with them with the information before moving out. Meanwhile, accessing to the old data of the house such as material list, blueprint is also a good alternative method. You can get hold of them by the masons. For instance, the acient people carved the blueprint of the Imperial City of Hue with a sheet of wood so that modern people can base on the data to repair th details.

In conclusion, people started to know about the history of their house since the practical that they need to add changes, this issue can be done by asking people and doing their own reasearch base on old information.