A Mysterious Private House 

Huinan Town was once the center town of Nanhui area for nearly three hundred years, and its development rate has led the way in all periods, especially after the reform and opening up. As a result, most of the traditional houses have been demolished and only a few well-preserved old houses still stand now. If one would like to visit the old houses in Huinan, Xinhua Road and the Xiandong Street to its north are the first places to go. The Pan’s House, the essence amongst all the traditional old houses, is located right on 8 Xinhua Road. 

Pan's House was built in 1915 (the Republic of China times) with two buildings and 41 rooms. In the 1980s, the south building was demolished. The present Pan's House is a two-story building covering an area of 584 sqm and a construction area of 1,071 sqm, brick-wood structured and uses cement faux stone as exterior walls. Facing south, the house has one main house and two side houses, 28.5 m long (five-bay wide) and 20.5 m deep. The first floor is linked up with a wooden veranda. The House adopts a gable roof with gray tiles and its Shikumen style main gate has delicate relief carving and decorated arch. Pan’s House is a typical Jiangnan style residential house in modern times, not so big and spacious as its northern counterparts, more leisurely structured than Fujian Tulou (a large, enclosed and fortified earth building), not so extroverted as the southwest minority buildings – it is elegant, quiet and delicate. 

The most impressive feature of Pan’s House is the fusion of eastern and western architectural styles and the stunning beauty after all this time. The appearance of the house is almost Western-style, with exquisite and luxurious relief patterns on the doors and windows, and chic light yellow concrete walls. But the inside of the House apparently adopts the traditional Chinese style, brick-wood structured, gable roof with gray tiles. The fusion of eastern and western cultural elements is perfect in this mansion.

It is probably because of the greater influence of Western cultures on the owner, Pan's House does not have the usual horse-head walls or guanyindou (half-circle shaped protrusion on the ends of roof ridge) as other Nanhui ancient dwellings do. It is said that the decoration of doors and windows represent the essence of the whole building, and also reflects the taste and cultural psychology of the owner. The doors and windows, wooden carvings, and stone bases under the pillars are decorated in an exquisite and elegant style, showing the craftsmanship of the builders back then. 

Pan's house is quite mysterious in that one only knows the surname of its owner and the full name cannot be found anywhere in historical materials, local records, or registration information of the housing department. The neighbors all say they have never seen the owner of the house. There are still many guesses about his or her identity, but one of them is generally accepted: the house was built by a senior official of the Kuomintang, who did not need to be present when the house was built. After it was completed, the owner had no time to return and live in the house because he worked in other cities. Later on, senior officials retreated to Taiwan with the Kuomintang after the Liberation War. Therefore, the owner never had the opportunity to return and show up in the house.

Although the owner has never shown up, the house has been in use in all times. Before 1949, the Nationalist Party's Nanhui Party headquarter was located here. In the early 1950s, the Communist Party's Nanhui County Committee and Nanhui County People's Government were also stationed here for some time. Now, a century has passed and the restored Pan's House shines brightly as a diamond. 

Reference: Ge Fangyao, Hu Min. Nanhui Old Place Names Volume II [M]. Shanghai: Shanghai Dictionary Press, 2011.