Transformation of Courtyard House in Xi’an, China: Change of ownership and the decline of a traditional dwelling form

As the most distinguished traditional dwelling form in China, courtyard house emerged around two thousand of years and became very popular in 13th century of Ming Dynasty. At that time, courtyard house was privately owned and resided by one extended large family. Such sole private ownership pattern and the then feudalist patriarchal system were closely related to the courtyard house’s physical form. However, since 20th century, especially 1950’s when China became a socialist country, the situation changed. A significant ratio of houses were nationalized.

Mostly of those still in private ownership were started to be shared by several owners. The previous sole private ownership pattern was largely replaced by other three ownership types: Multiple Private Ownership, Joint Private and Pubic Ownership and Sole Private Ownership. This study aims to find out how the change of ownership in China after 1949 impacted the way traditional courtyard house transformed in Xi’an, a famous historical city in China, and if it was closely related to the decline of such traditional dwelling form. We found that with the change of sole private ownership, previous owner’s control was damaged, the traditional courtyard houses were transformed into messy and lost of their key qualities. It is an inevitable and irreversible process. We, as architect and urban planner, had better not to be nostalgic and try to do something to revive it. The wise way is to properly guide its development especially the self-redevelopment happening within the house. Detail building code which is largely absent today should be clearly made and strictly implemented so as to guarantee the basic physical living condition to be meet and hopefully retain some traditional spatial quality.