Chonglan Thatched Cottage

Chonglan Thatched Cottage

Chonglan Thatched Cottage is a cultural heritage site protected by Suzhou Municipality.

Chonglan Thatched Cottage

Located within Fangta Garden, it is a single-structure building from the Ming Dynasty. The structure has three bays and four roof frames along with one additional front porch frame, a flush-gable roof, flat-style construction, and Ming-era beams and frames. The total width is 10.84 meters, and the total depth is 7.50 meters. The central bay uses a raised-beam structure, and the five-beam frame features Suzhou-style wrapped-silk brocade paintings, including diamond-shaped "wan" (ten thousand) character lattice patterns, "longevity" character motifs, and six-sided six-petaled brocade designs; the three-beam frame displays clearly visible scroll-and-lotus patterns at the banding. The side bays also use a raised-beam structure with a central column, and both the moon beams and cross beams are decorated with Suzhou-style wrapped-silk brocade paintings, with bottle and scroll motifs on the banding of the cross beams and floral patterns along the edges of the moon beam wrappings. The exposed ridge purlin stands at a height of 5.08 meters, while the front eave is 3.42 meters high. Originally the main hall of a residence belonging to the Yu family, the building was relocated from South Gate Street to Fangta Garden in the early 1980s. The name "Chonglan Thatched Cottage" comes from the study of Lu Yifei, a painter from Changshu, whose original study was located on Xinxin Lane, Old County Site. That original structure was demolished during the widening of Fangta Street in the 1990s. Later, at the request of his family, the municipal government converted this building into "Chonglan Thatched Cottage" and displayed replicas of Lu Yifei’s paintings here. It was designated as a cultural heritage site protected by Changshu Municipality in June 2013.