House 110 Vat Chan Street was built in 1915 making it one of the oldest houses in Vientiane. Extensions of the original building were made in the 1930s, 1950s and 1970s. The five segments of the building extend almost 40 meters, making the upstairs certainly the longest apartment in the city!

Particular restoration problems included finding clay tiles to redo the roof, a persistent leak between the original building and one of the extensions where the builder did not tie the two roof sections together properly, and problems with moving the huge volume of rain runoff away from the building.

House 110 took about two years to finish because AHL was just learning how to do things. We repaired the walls, extended the front awnings, and installed a massive hidden drainage system to make the house secure and dry. Inside, new bathrooms and a new kitchen made the upstairs into a very pleasing apartment.

The AHL office was on the ground floor, in two warehouse rooms formerly used to store salt. The salt residue meant that paint wouldn't stick so the walls looked "distressed" all the time.

New owners

AHL's lease for House 110 expired at the end of 2009 and the property reverted to its owner whose extended family included several people in their 80s who needed health care. The house was the family's only asset and so it was sold for about $500,000.

The family wanted AHL to buy the house but we had no way of raising so much money. To give you an idea of the local banking reality, AHL approached local banks for a mortgage, looking for a 15-30 year loan at a reasonable interest rate. One international bank proposed to give us a 5 year loan at 12% with a 40% down payment. Even if we could somehow find several hundred thousand dollars for the down payment, the monthly payment of $7500 was at that time more than the gross monthly income of the company. Loans from the local money lenders carry 10-15% interest PER MONTH!

We all expected the house to be demolished regardless of its high standing on the historic properties list. But although AHL is disappointed not to have been able to buy House 110, we are very pleased to find that the new owner loves the house too! He grew up in the neighborhood and played on the street as a child. He believes that the house is an important part of the city's history that must be preserved.

Promises crumble in the face of cold hard cash. In late 2012, after months of secret negotiations, the Ansara Hotel next door demolished House 110 to make space for a swimming pool.

We found out about the scheme only when the green wall went up, when it was too late to do anything.

The Ansara negotiated a 20 year lease with the house owner and paid him 10 years in advance in cash, a vast amount of cash. The Ansara Hotel itself sits on the site of an historic building the owners tore down without permission about 10 years ago.

To get around the laws protecting the house, the Ansara's permit, which was obtained from the incorrect agency, says that they are moving the building, not destroying it. They have constructed a replica of the building elsewhere, but this new building is a sham and violates the law on every point.

As the head of the Historic Preservation Office says, there is a law but it has no teeth, and there is disdain for history at the highest levels. We can do nothing.