Cai Family Residence on Wushengmen Road

Cai Family Residence on Wushengmen Road

The Cai Family Residence on Wushengmen Road is a cultural heritage site protected at the municipal level by Yuyao City.

The Cai Family Residence on Wushengmen Road is located on Wushengmen Road, Yangming Community, Yuyao City. Facing south, it originally featured an axis-aligned layout consisting of a gatehouse, main building, and two wing rooms. Currently, only the gatehouse and main building remain, enclosed by high walls. Judging from its architectural style, it is a residence dating back to the late Qing Dynasty.

The gatehouse is located in the center of the southern wall and features double-panel doors adorned with bamboo strip decorations on the door panels. A small roof (披檐) extends over the inner side of the gate. The gate dragon (decorative ridge tile) is plain. Between the gatehouse and the main building lies a courtyard paved with stone slabs, featuring a central pathway (甬道) of considerable width. The main building is a seven-bay, flush-gable-roofed structure. The central bay (明间) uses raised beams supported by four pillars reaching the floor, with five crossbeams. The side bays (次间), end bays (梢间), and corner bays (尽间) use a mixed post-and-lintel and raised beam construction, with five pillars and seven purlins. The central bay features a front porch. The second-floor floorboards extend beyond the eave pillars, with railings along the outer edge. The central bay serves as the main hall, featuring six lattice-panel doors at the front and six panel doors between the rear golden pillars at the back. A stone-arched gatehouse is also set into the rear eaves of the central bay. Some lattice windows are preserved on the front façade of the upper floor, while the rear façade features stone windows.

The overall layout of the old house remains largely intact, and the main building is well-preserved, reflecting the typical characteristics of late Qing Dynasty residences in Yuyao. It holds significant historical and architectural value.

On September 23, 2014, the Yuyao Municipal People's Government designated it as part of the sixth batch of municipal-level cultural heritage protection units.

Yangming Community: Yangming Community…… More details about Yangming Community++

Further reading:

· Sixth Batch of Municipal-Level Cultural Heritage Protection Units in Yuyao City