Two thirds of the 350 ancient houses in Tien Giang province are situated in Go Cong. Most of the ancient villas and houses were built from bricks and oil extracted from different types of trees mixed with honey. The architectural style of these ancient houses is similar to those of the central region and have been blended with Western styles. A house is often comprised of 3 compartments, 2 lean-tos and a large roof depicting Yin and Yang. The ancient villa of former governor Nguyen Phu Hai is the most famous in the town. Its architecture was blended with the French Roman style but its décor embraces with the Vietnamese southern style. The house was built in 1890 and comprises a main hall, two square apartments and a barn.

Visitors to the house are amazed by the decorative patterns on lacquered boards, parallel sentences and sculptural works featuring Vietnam’s sacred animals and legends. Ancient furniture such as the divans made of marble, chinaware items, wooden furniture, and a hundred-year old safe remain in the house. The most special item in the house is a big bed made of solid marble called That Bao. Built in 1885, Nguyen Anh Tuan’s house is also one of the typical ancient houses in Go Cong. With its Western- Oriental blended architectural style, the house has an arched window, lime walls and Yin-Yang roof. It took three years to complete the house. Other ancient houses in Go Cong are hundreds of years old. They include the 130-year-old villa of the first Provincial Chief of Go Cong and the Trung communal house built in the late 19^th century. Phan Van Minh lives in Go Cong town: “I’m a Go Cong local. I’m very proud of the unique ancient houses of our town. We really hope that local authorities will assist us in preserving these houses to attract more tourists to Go Cong”.

Go Cong’s people have made every effort to preserve their ancient houses and consider them to be precious assets. Pham Van Chinh is Go Cong’s Head of the Culture and Information Department: “We attach great importance to preserving our ancient relics including ancient houses. We have invested about 50,000-100,000 USD  in restoring local relics. We have also included ancient houses in tours of Go Cong town.”

The Director of Tien Giang Museum, Le Ai Siem, urges more research and efforts to preserve local relics: “We need to survey local tangible and intangible relics to categorize the priorities for restoration and preservation. We also need to develop policies and raise funds for preservation”.