The Fang Family Ancestral House

The Fang Family Ancestral House

The Fang Family Ancestral House is located in Tongxin Group, Hongxing Village, Doumu Township. According to the genealogy of the Fang family, the structure was built in the mid-Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. It was reconstructed by the 16th-generation ancestor Xianhao of the Fang family after purchasing the site from a person surnamed Liu. Constructed with a brick-and-timber frame, the building features shallow eaves at both the front and rear. In front of the main gate lies a pond called “Moon Pond,” while a principal mountain stands behind the house. The roof is adorned with a row of gable-and-hip horsehead walls arranged in a zigzag pattern, featuring “Suzhou-style” coping. The roof has two slopes covered with gray clay tiles. The second bay serves as the central hall, supported by five beams using large timbers, and employs a mixed structural system of raised beams and through-tenon joints. The side panel walls inside the hall extend all the way to the ceiling. Between the eave pillars and outer golden pillars, there is a coffered ceiling, and a row of windbreak panels is installed on the front and rear golden pillars. The last bay functions as the rear hall, with eight latticed doors installed on the inner entrance. The three halls and the central hall feature a hard mountain-style screen wall with a single water surface facing the front. The front screen wall of the central hall has a “four-pillar, three-bay” façade, with a double stone-pillar gate opening inward from the center. The wall is built with blue bricks outlined in white mortar, and a row of “base moldings” is embedded at the wall base, decorated with geometric patterns and auspicious cloud motifs. The lintel is carved in relief with door stops and the image of a “family official,” and the characters “惟吾德馨” (“Virtue Alone is Fragrant”) are inscribed in relief. The screen wall in front of the third hall has a plain surface, with two stone door pivots erected, and the lintel is adorned with “hanging lotus pillars” constructed from blue bricks.

The entire structure showcases exquisite brick, stone, and wood carvings, primarily found on beam cores, bracket arms, screen walls, and lintels. A full range of carving techniques—including relief, openwork, pierced, and flat carving—are utilized.