Sidetang (Xu Family’s Gaolao House) Residential Complex

Sidetang (Xu Family’s Gaolao House) Residential Complex

Sidetang (Xu Family’s Gaolao House) Residential Complex is a cultural relic protection unit of Anhui Province.

Xu Family’s Gaolao House is located in Daqiao Group, Youfang Village, Chashui Town. It was built in the 10th year of the Yongzheng reign during the Qing Dynasty (1732) by Xu Yuanxing, a scholar-official and son of Xu Youzhang, the 11th-generation descendant of the Xu family. The residence is constructed of brick and wood, featuring overhanging eaves at the front and rear, hard mountain-style fire walls, double-sloped roofs covered with gray clay tiles, and exterior walls finished with blue brick pointing. Together with the surrounding mountain foothills on three sides, it forms a silhouette space where dark green and pale white hues complement each other. Its architectural style is a typical example of Huizhou-style mountain architecture from the Ming and Qing periods.

The building boasts distinctive brick, stone, and wood carvings that are abundant and breathtakingly beautiful. Window lattices, door headers, bracket arms, pillars, screen walls, and dadoes are key areas showcasing these “three types of carving.” Some of the “floral artisan” miniatures, through intricate carving techniques such as relief, openwork, flat, and round carving, can be considered masterpieces.

The building has a regular square floor plan, with a depth of three bays visible and five concealed, and a width of seven bays, covering an area of approximately 850 square meters. The main gate is recessed by half a bay along the depth, creating a concave-shaped floor plan. The gate frame is supported by gate pier stones, flanked on both sides by box-shaped stone piers. The gate header features four door studs, each carved with floral patterns representing “orchid, lotus, chrysanthemum, and plum.” The old house follows the orientation of the Bagua (Eight Trigrams) and feng shui principles, with the main house facing south and the rear house facing north, while the side wings align correspondingly from east to west. The main house and side wings are connected via passageways to facilitate ventilation, air circulation, and lighting. The second bay serves as the main hall, featuring a five-rafter roof structure that employs a combination of raised-beam and through-tenon styles, with a coffered ceiling between the outer and inner columns. The inner and outer columns are made of large timber, with column bases in the shape of double-layered lotus pedestals. The front of the hall has a flush gable wall with a single water surface, topped with a plain ridge, front and back with double water returns, and decorated with tile ends and drip tiles on the eave closure board. Below the drip tiles is a row of widely spaced brackets. The upper left and right corners of the gate header feature relief carvings of the “Southern and Northern Idiot Stars,” with the characters “East Sea’s Grace” engraved in intaglio in the center. For functional needs, the screen wall has an inward-opening door in the middle, with a stone-framed gate serving the purpose of “changing the door without changing the frame,” while also enhancing defensive functionality. The third bay hall is the ancestral hall, also known as the “Four Virtues Hall,” which is a place where the Xu family honors their ancestors and roots.

Protected Area: East, west, and north up to the circular stone wall; south up to the pond.

Construction Control Zone: 20 meters outside the protected area.

Further Reading:

· Fifth Batch of Municipal Cultural Relic Protection Units in Anqing City