The last days of the DDR Apartments of Vinh

The Quang Trung housing complex in Vinh was built as a show of solidarity by the Deutsche Demokratische Republik. These historic apartments are now 50 years old and are being replaced.

The city of Vinh in the North Central Coast region of Vietnam was extensively damaged during the first Indochina War and the Vietnam-American War, including most of the historic citadel.

[A remnant of the Vinh Citadel and moat.]

The city was rebuilt with assistance from the German Democratic Republic in the 1970s, and this Eastern Bloc influence is visible in the broad and straight streets that go through the city. The most notable feature of this reconstruction era is the residential apartments known as the Quang Trung housing complex.

[Quang Trung housing complex.]

The Quang Trung apartments are similar in style and layout to what was being built in East Germany, with near-identical apartment blocks evenly spaced out next to wide roads. It looked more Eastern European when they were first built, with no other buildings in between the apartments.

This photo gallery on Instagram shows the housing project in the 1970s. These photos could be in Leipzig if it weren’t for the conical hats.

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An article about these apartments can be found here:

The Children of Marx in the Land of Hồ Chí Minh: Quang Trung housing complex in Vinh City, Vietnam

I was curious to see these apartments, as this Eastern Bloc apartment style is not a common feature in Vietnam. Most cities in Vietnam are dominated by the tall and skinny tubehouses, and socialist modernist architecture is mainly found in the war monuments built in that era.

[A war monument in Phong Nha in the blocky concrete socialist style.]

Another reason I wanted to see these apartments is that they are gradually being demolished. The buildings that remain are deteriorating, and if we are being realistic, they are not suitable for the tropical climate.

One of the remarkable things about these apartments is that they are in a prime location in the city centre. The Quang Trung housing complex runs along Quang Trung Street, which has the central market at the end of the street.

[Old and new Vinh are represented on Quang Trung Street.]

There were new apartment blocks under construction near the old apartment blocks when I visited. The apartments being built are numbered and have no fancy names that modern developers use (for example, apartment block C4 instead of Vinh Sky View or something similar).

[Plan for new apartments in Vinh.]

Some modern developments are being built nearby, including a block of shophouses from Vinhomes that resembles every other shophouse development that Vinhomes has built in Vietnam.

[Vincom shophouses among new apartment towers.]

The biggest change to this area (and the city) is a new tower that will host the Sheraton Hotel. This is the first international hotel chain in Vinh, so it marks a new era for the city.

[Quang Trung land clearance and the Sheraton Hotel.]

It was encouraging to see the city stick to its socialist roots by replacing the old social housing with new apartments. Perhaps this is just because there is no demand in Vinh for the name-brand apartments that are springing up across the country. Considering that there is a shortage of social housing in the major cities, more social housing apartments like those in Vinh would be welcome.

I am in several architecture groups on Facebook, including socialist modernism architecture and Vietnamese modernism. Some members tend to romanticise these buildings and bemoan their demolition, even though they are falling apart and are uncomfortable to live in by modern standards.

I welcome the modern apartments, but it would also be good to keep one of the blocks as a historic relic of the solidarity between East Germany and North Vietnam. Perhaps one of the apartment blocks could be renovated and turned into a cafe block, like the apartment tower full of cafes in Ho Chi Minh City. This would be a good way to preserve one of the buildings while turning it into a tourist attraction.