Porcelain House 瓷房子

About Porcelain House

Owner Zhang Lianzhi covered the building with porcelain fragments and objects, turning walls and roof ornament into a dense mosaic. The effect differs from a conventional ceramics gallery: the house itself is the principal composition, while antique furniture and other collected pieces occupy the interior. Look first at how vessels, fragments and sculptural elements have been assembled across the façade, then decide whether to add the indoor collection to a Chifeng Road walk.

The building now known as Porcelain House was originally the Tianjin residence of Huang Rongliang (黄荣良), a former Beijing government diplomat who also represented the Republic of China at the League of Nations, built in the late 1920s in the former French concession.

The original residence had a floor area of 4,200 square meters and was a four-story brick-and-timber French-style building with an Italian-style veranda, built in an eclectic style. It is now a Heping District protected cultural relic (和平区文物保护单位) and a heritage building under key protection (重点保护等级历史风貌建筑).

What to look for

• The exterior mosaic assembled from porcelain fragments and whole ceramic forms.
• Roof and wall ornament that turns the old residence into a large decorative artwork.
• Antique furniture and collected objects inside, subject to admission.

Location & getting there

Getting to Porcelain House

Use 72 Chifeng Road in Heping for the Porcelain House entrance.

• Hepinglu Metro station provides an approach to the surrounding central streets; follow the named house rather than a general shopping-area pin.