Where are most courtyard houses built in Beijing?

Beijing’s courtyard houses are located within Ring 2 of many buildings. In the past, courtyard houses were where wealthy families lived. At that time, those close to the palace were where dignitaries lived.

A formal courtyard house has one house per household, and the floor plan can be large or small. The owner of the house can build it according to the size of the land and the number of people in the family. It can be as small as one entrance, as large as three or four entrances, or as wide as two courtyards with a span. The smaller ones have 13 rooms; the ones with one or two courtyards have 25 to 40 rooms.

The back wall of the wing room is the courtyard wall, and a brick wall is built at the corner. The large courtyard is surrounded by walls from the outside. The walls are tall and have no windows to show its privacy. In terms of format, many palaces and temples were also designed and built according to the layout of the quadrangle.

The smallest one enters the courtyard and enters the street gate directly into the courtyard, which is run through by the central axis. The houses are all single-story and are surrounded by a reverse house, a main house, and a side house to form a courtyard, of which the north house is the main house. The houses in the east and west directions are wing rooms, and the door of the south room opens to the north, so it is called "inverted house". Flowers and fruit trees are planted in the courtyard for viewing.

The two-entry courtyard is divided into a front yard and a backyard. The backyard is also called the inner house. The front yard consists of a gatehouse and an inverted room. The one connecting the front and back yards is usually a hanging flower door. Some relatively simple residences use moon gates. The back yard consists of east and west wing rooms, main room and verandah. There are also two courtyards, such as Mao Dun's former residence in Beijing. There is no hanging flower door to separate the front yard. Instead, a backyard is added behind the main house to build a back room specifically for the female family members.

Extended information:

The courtyard gate is the main entrance to the courtyard. Beijingers are accustomed to calling it "street gate". Today, when everything in the world is changing rapidly, it is difficult to judge the level of the courtyard owner based on these street gates. Wandering in the streets shaded by green trees, the numerous old-style street gates have become silent history, silently bringing you boundless associations and inspirations, just like a century old man telling you his early years in a trembling voice. story.

Among the many courtyard doors in Beijing, they can be roughly divided into two categories, namely house-style doors and wall-mounted doors. The former has a door opening and the door occupies a room; the latter has no door opening and only opens the door on the wall. To elaborate, house-style gates are divided into Wangfu gates, Guangliang gates, Ruyi gates, etc.; wall-mounted gates include small gate towers, car doors, etc.

Let’s talk about the gate of the palace first. In the past, the title of a residence was clearly stipulated in the "Qing Dynasty Huidian": "The residences of princes, county princes, crown princes, Baylor, Beizi, Zhenguogong and Fuguogong are all called mansions." Among them, the prince's residence is called a mansion. , the residence of the prince is called the palace. As for those high-ranking officials who are not descendants of phoenixes and dragons, even though they have titles, or titles such as minister, bachelor, or military minister, their residences cannot be called "mansion", but can only be called "zhai" or "di". In terms of property rights, the "mansion" and the "wangfu" are both royal properties. Once the title is removed, the palace must be removed accordingly in case it can be divided among others in the future. "Mansion" is generally private property.

Reference: Siheyuan-Baidu Encyclopedia