To be honest, it’s not that Ning Weimin has never seen the world, nor is it that he talks arrogantly.
Because as long as they have a certain understanding of the house listed on Kang Shude's house deed, I'm afraid anyone will have similar feelings to Ning Weimin.
First of all, the location of the house is hard to choose.
It is actually Weijia Hutong located on the west side of Dongsi North Street Road.
What is that place?
Ning Weimin took out the 1980 version of the Beijing map, compared it and found out.
It is located in the northeast corner of the Forbidden City and is the absolute center of the capital.
This alley is surrounded by famous schools, hospitals, banks, government agencies, and commercial districts.
And it is surrounded by the National Art Museum, Nanluogu Lane, Jingshan Park, the Forbidden City, Imperial College, Lama Temple, Prince Gong's Mansion, Houhai, Longfu Temple, Wangfujing, Ritan Park, and Workers' Stadium.
If you start from here, no matter where you want to go, these are the places.
The farthest one is no more than five kilometers, which is extremely convenient.
And if such a location were to be built thirty years later, the land price would be absolutely incredible, at least 150,000 square meters.
However, the area of this house is extremely large.
The real estate drawings that the old man took out were quite clear.
What is written on the official seal and deed is even more clear.
The specific content is as follows.
"The Lishuai House, named Renma xx, has an ancestral garden house covering an area of 11 acres and one-third of the land. It is located in Weijia Hutong, West of Dongsi North Street Road."
"Among them, there are five gatehouses, two accounting rooms, five clay tire halls, 20 warehouses, and six car rooms at the west gate. They are all north rooms, totaling 38 rooms."
"The east garden part covers an area of 6.8 acres, including seven courtyards, with a total of 85 houses and attic pavilions."
"Further east there is a three-story theater building and a parallel two-span, four-entry courtyard, totaling one hundred and forty-four houses. All the houses have complete doors, windows, and walls, and are connected with civil engineering from top to bottom."
"Now, according to the agreement between Song Xiuwen and Kong Linxiang, we are willing to sell the whole house to Kang Shude as a permanent property. The price is 78,000 silver dollars. The silver was paid in full on that day, and there is no shortage.
"
"Since the date of the sale of this house, if there are disputes among relatives and other people, and there are repeated frauds in the sale, the seller will be responsible for it. I am afraid that my words are unfounded, so I set up a letter as evidence. September 6, the 35th year of the Republic of China."
Then there are the signatures and paintings of the two brokers and the seller.
There is no doubt that the contents of this official deed reveal a lot of curious things.
For example, the time of the transaction, who the buyer was, the price of the house, and how it was negotiated at that time...
Anyway, there are quite a lot of details that can be investigated and traced.
But the most eye-catching content is undoubtedly the building area and building regulations of this house.
Eleven acres and three thirds...how big is that area?
Ning Weimin did some calculations and was surprised to get a number, which was approximately equal to 7,600 square meters.
Moreover, this house has a house, a theater, a garden, and a garage, and there are two courtyards side by side.
He knew that "jin" in a courtyard refers to the meridian, which refers to the depth area.
"Cuan" is the latitude line, which refers to the parallel connection of left and right.
A courtyard with two spans and four entrances means that it has at least eight courtyards.
Plus the seven courtyards in the garden...
Hey, this is really close to catching up with the palace.
Of course, Prince Gong's Mansion, the largest in the capital, covers an area of 61,000 square meters and has the highest architectural regulations.
Thirty years later, one of the golden nanmu pillars in the Hall of Light was valued at 2 billion.
The theater is also unique and fully enclosed.
If we talk about "ho" alone, there is definitely a big gap.
But having said that, it is more than enough than above.
Compared with the palace of Emperor Guangxu's biological father, Prince Chun's Palace located on the northern edge of Houhai Lake, it is almost the same.
Because the area of Prince Chun's Mansion is 8,848 square meters.
And this includes the square, mansion gate, Yin'an Hall, side hall and other office areas.
If we only look at the actual area of the house and garden, I'm afraid it won't be as big as this house.
If he were to compete with the Shuncheng County Prince's Mansion, he would have been crushed.
Because the area of Shuncheng County Prince's Mansion is only 3,000 square meters, Kang Shude's house is already more than twice that size.
Based on this calculation, the future value of this house may be as high as several billion yuan.
But is that all?
No, there is another crucial point about this house in Weijia Hutong.
This directly determines its intrinsic value and artistic value, which to some extent transcend the palace.
Even Prince Gong's Mansion cannot compare.
This is due to the professional ability of the owner who built this house - the artistic attainments of construction expert Ma Huitang in ancient architecture.
Ma Huitang, whose real name was Wensheng and also had the courtesy name Huitang, was born around the ninth year of Tongzhi in the Qing Dynasty (1870).
The Ma family was a famous construction family in the Ming and Qing dynasties, as famous as "Style Thunder", and had been engaged in the construction of royal construction projects for generations.
He undertook the construction of a large number of royal buildings and princely residences, including the Summer Palace, and presided over the maintenance of many temples, temples and mausoleums.
It was famous in the capital at that time and was known as a "family of philosophers and craftsmen".
By the time it was passed down to the twelfth generation descendant, Ma Huitang, the family was even more prosperous.
In the late Qing Dynasty, it became the first among the "Eight Wooden Mills" in the capital (i.e. Long, Guangfeng, Binxing, Deli, Dongtianhe, Xitianhe, Juyuan and Dexiang).
As for Ma Huitang himself, there is another story about how he wanted to make up for the mistakes of his craftsmen.
The legendary story of a wooden carving made of golden nanmu that was forged into glazed tiles and inlaid on the Nine Dragon Wall of Beihai. It got through the inspection and acceptance project.
This is not a fiction, but a true story.
The piece of golden nanmu is located on the lower belly of the third dragon from the left on the Nine Dragon Wall of the Forbidden City, and it still exists today.
During the Republic of China, although a large amount of project payments were owed by the Qing royal family, they could not be recovered.
But the Ma family still relied on the accumulation of generations to become the de facto richest man in the capital.
At that time, Majia Xinglong Wood Factory had been renamed Hengmao Wood Factory. It not only owned more than 1,400 houses, but also operated many other businesses.
There are hundreds of shops and stalls in Dong'an Market, as well as shares in Tongjitang Pharmacy, Jingcheng Hotel, Kailuan Coal Mine, Jingcheng and Jinmen Tram Company, Qixin Cement Company, and Water Supply Company.
So someone said back then that even if you look at people in the capital, everyone knows that "the horse Juyuan is on the head, wearing the eight auspicious signs, the inner connection on the feet, and the four constants around the waist."
Not to mention Na Tong from Jinyu Hutong and Zeng Chong from Qin Lao Hutong.
None of these people are wealthy.
The Ma family really wants to use a big cart to haul silver coins from East Fourth to West Fourth, and they can pull it from day to night.
Then think about it, such a rich man is also a skilled craftsman who really understands ancient architecture.
Can the garden house I built for myself be any worse?
In fact, I have to say that an expert is still an expert.
Because according to Kang Shude's introduction, Ma Huitang designed it himself and spent several years of hard work using leftover materials from the Old Summer Palace and the Summer Palace to carefully build a retirement residence for himself.
This house can be said to be a combination of a large courtyard and a medium-sized garden. It is a model of the ingenious combination of ancient architectural art and garden art in my country.
In fact, Ma Faitang did not make the appearance of the building too luxurious.
However, the layout and functions are carefully created, and the decoration style is also very elegant.
Looking at the whole garden, the layout is generous but not rigid, the houses are simple but not crude, the mountains and rocks are numerous but not cumbersome, the lotus pond is elegant but not artificial. It is indeed worthy of the work of a famous craftsman and can be regarded as an outstanding representative of private gardens in the capital during the Republic of China.
On the other hand, the garden of Prince Gong's Mansion, although large in area, deliberately emphasizes symmetry, strictness and even stiffness.
Because even the stacked lake stones have to echo and be equal.
As a result, gardens are too artificial, lose their natural spirituality, and become inferior.
At the same time, Ma Huitang himself also attaches great importance to enjoyment.
His mansion adopted many advanced living facilities and was a combination of Chinese and Western advanced features.
At the beginning of construction, running water, flush toilets, electric lights, ceiling fans and mosaics were already in use.
A special billiards room was even built in the rockery.
This was a great thing at the time.
Therefore, after the construction of this house was completed, many political dignitaries visited it, and the garden was lent out many times for wedding celebrations.
Due to the continuous flow of guests coming to enjoy the garden scenery, the number is increasing.
Therefore, this residence became more and more famous at that time, and was called Ma's Garden by celebrities in society.
Its architectural level and artistic value are completely comparable to Wanyan's half-acre garden and the garden in Jinyu Hutong in the category of private gardens in Beijing.
Today, Half Acre Garden, that garden has been submerged in the dust of history and no longer exists.
This garden is the only remaining one that the architect built for himself.
If you look at it from this perspective, nature becomes even more precious, and it is undoubtedly an extremely precious cultural heritage.
So how should we discuss the price? How much should it be worth?