Saigon Preservation Battles #2 – The French Officers Club

Sadly the GMC building I posted about recently is not the only architectural relic from the French colonial period threatened with demolition in Saigon. The former French Officers’ Club (Cercle des Officiers), the oldest surviving French colonial building in the city, is also threatened. The building, 45-47 Le Duan, is now the home of the Ho Chi Minh City District 1 People’s Committee, which is proposing to knock it down and build themselves a new structure on the site 0- US$75.5 million has apparently been earmarked for the demolition and rebuilding project.

The colonial era structure was built in 1876 at the command of Rear Admiral-Governor Victor Guy Duperré (30 September 1874 – 30 January 1876) to provide social and recreational facilities for high-ranking members of the French armed forces. the plan now is to raise only part of the building the committee does not believe has much heritage value, but the demolition would destroy the original design of the building. The building is extremely spacious and has beautiful shuttered windows and cool verandas, typical of the period’s best architecture in French Indo-China. The French inhabited the building until the retreat at Dien Bien Phu in 1954.

the entire district in central Saigon is a tourist spot but has already seen a great deal of destruction. Close by a beautiful old art deco apartment building at 213 Dong Khoi Street has gone and another, that dates back to 1888, is threatened at 159-161 Ly Tu Trong Street.

The Cercle des Officiers as was originally….

The still well preserved exterior that is now threatened…