The Huang Family’s Walled Gate House

The Huang Family’s Walled Gate House

The Huang Family’s Walled Gate House is a cultural heritage site protected at the municipal level in Yuyao City.

The Huang Family’s Walled Gate House, also known as the residence of Huang Zhengyi, is located at No. 100 Guanjia Lane in Yuyao City. Huang Zhengyi was the fifth-generation descendant of the renowned philosopher Huang Zongxi. His courtesy name was Zhongzhi and his art name Pingbi. Gifted from an early age, he passed the imperial examination for the juren degree in the 54th year of the Qianlong reign (1789) and became a jinshi in the 24th year of the Jiaqing reign (1819). He once served as the magistrate of Conghua County and returned home upon completing his term due to illness. He then withdrew from public life. In his later years, he used the art name Heshi Shanren (Crane Stone Mountain Man) and authored the poetry collection *Poetic Manuscripts from the Crane Stone Studio*.

The former residence of Huang Zhengyi faces south and is arranged along a central north-south axis. From south to north are, in sequence, the entrance hall, main hall, rear building, and rear wing room. Each section has a total width of 19.55 meters and is divided into five bays. The entrance hall is a two-story structure, with a depth of 5.50 meters. It uses a post-and-lintel beam frame structure, with five purlins and three columns. The main hall has a depth of 9.75 meters. The central bay features a raised-beam structure with eight purlins and five columns. The gable walls are arched like saddles, and the front and rear sections of the central and side bays all have corridors. The front corridor has a boat-shaped roof, with intricately carved xuanshuang beams, purlins, and spandrels. The courtyard in front of the main hall is 5.80 meters deep. Right behind the rear of the central bay of the main hall is a gate tower, 0.95 meters deep, with a stone-framed width of 4.20 meters and a height of 5 meters. It is built with brick and stone. Under the eaves are brick carvings and bracket sets. The two side walls of the gate tower extend eastward and connect with the gable walls of the wing rooms on either side of the rear building. The courtyard behind the main hall is 5.25 meters deep, with single-eave wing rooms on the east and west sides, two bays each. The rear building has a depth of 12.40 meters, featuring a post-and-lintel beam frame structure with nine purlins and seven columns. It has a corridor extending across all five bays, with the purlins under the corridor shaped like crescent beams. The roof is a double-eave flush-gable style. The rear wing room has a depth of 8.10 meters. The entire residence has a total depth of 56.70 meters, offering deep and layered courtyards. Both the courtyards and interior spaces are paved with stone slabs laid in staggered joints, with a 2.65-meter-wide passageway.

The entire structure uses relatively robust materials, and the beams, crossbeams, doors, and windows feature rather refined decorations. While the basic layout of the old residence remains largely intact, many of the doors and windows have been modified, and small structures have been added within the courtyards, giving it a somewhat crowded appearance.

On March 19, 1997, the Huang Family’s Walled Gate House was designated as a municipal-level cultural heritage site by the Yuyao Municipal People's Government.