Tube houses.

Check these out: according to 19th century [and earlier] laws, owners of houses were taxed according to the amount of street frontage their house had. Hence, the "tube house," a very skinny, one block deep, 2-6 story house, with shop on the ground floor. Several families might live in one tube house, or one large extended family. These tube houses are all over Old Town Hanoi, and interestingly, cropped up again as a form after the 1986 economic reforms. The skinniest ones I saw were 8' or so, and some even seemed to occupy former alleys [4-6'].

Their basic diagram remains relatively consistent: a front shop, a transition space, a central courtyard/lightwell, a transition space, living space, another courtyard, kitchen/bathroom. Sleeping spaces are on the second floor. 


In the "neo" tube houses, the shop is still on the first floor with living space behind, but the upper stories are stacked apartments, and there are no courtyards.

Tube houses, Hanoi.

Inside a tube house: down a narrow hall [past the front shop], the house opens up into a mid-block courtyard: a welcome respite from the noisy, dirty streets.

Old and new in Hanoi. Though some of Old Town is protected, much looks like this: 19th century tube houses next to "neo" tube houses.