This wonderfully atmospheric 1895 house on the riverfront was once the residence of Huynh Thuy Le, the 27-year-old son of a rich Chinese family who Marguerite Duras had an affair with in 1929 when she was only 15 – immortalising the romance in The Lover , eventually made into a film. The house is a Sino-French design with intricate interior woodwork, mother-of-pearl inlaid doors, heavy wooden furniture and original floor tiles, made in France.
In the entrance hall there are photos of the Le family, as well as those of Marguerite Duras herself, and stills from the film itself.
The Chinese on the plaque in the main hall reads '中西共仰', which literally means 'China and the West admire together', celebrating its fusion of East and West.
