Baozhuang, also known as Sui Lu, is located at No. 94, Beishan Road, Xihu District. It is a relatively well-preserved mountain garden-style villa. Entering Baozhuang by climbing the mountain path along Beishan Road, the first thing that catches the eye is an exquisitely carved brick-decorated gate tower with extraordinary momentum. On the lintel are the two characters “Sui Lu”, with the inscription by Zhao Meixi. Entering the gate tower, there is an ancient camphor tree over 300 years old. Amid the shade of the tree, a two-story, three-bay Western-style villa stands out. This building has a brick and stone foundation, ceiling, bottle-decorated railings, and a sky-reaching ladder. It has a total of 9 rooms covering an area of 225.95 square meters. There are also five and a half bungalows covering an area of 134.5 square meters. Coming out of the courtyard and continuing to climb up the mountain path paved with huge stone slabs is the backyard of Baozhuang. Here there is a ancestral hall, a family grave, and two stone pavilions. All are built along the mountain and follow the trend upward. The entire Baozhuang covers an area of 2.019 mu. It was built in 1922 and has a history of 80 years. The original owner of Baozhuang, Bao Bolin, is from Guangdong. He operates a variety of industries in Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Hangzhou and has a substantial family fortune. The Sui Lu he built has quite the charm of his hometown Lingnan. It has three characteristics: first, the building mostly uses blue bricks, terrazzo, stone slabs, and flagstones to prevent moisture; second, from the large garden layout to the small fish pond stacking, all are designed according to Lingnan style; third, the residence, ancestral temple, and grave are integrated with yin and yang, all in the courtyard. Especially the square pavilion and octagonal pavilion in the courtyard are all constructed with stones, stone slabs, flagstones, and stone tiles, without any bricks, wood, or iron, which is rare among private gardens in the West Lake. Thus, the feeling that Baozhuang gives people is that there is a path inside the gate, and the path wants to be winding; there is a wall outside the flowers, and the wall wants to be low; there is a pavilion on the stone surface, and the pavilion wants to be simple; there is a garden at the corner of the house, and the garden wants to be wide; there is a room behind the bamboo, and the room wants to be secluded. Standing in Baozhuang, facing south with the back to the north, facing the lake against the mountain, looking from afar and observing up close, there is quite a sense of comfort as in “The sound of ten thousand valleys fills the trees, and the autumn air is high on thousands of cliffs”. It can be called a rare private garden existing in the northern line of the West Lake.
Open all year round and all day.Sui Lu
Baozhuang, also known as Sui Lu, is located at No. 94, Beishan Road, Xihu District. It is a relative[...]
