Three houses from different time
Rented and transformed
Spent twenty million on it in four years
Went through a tsunami and the COVID-19 outbreak
These things happen once in a century
While we met it twice in the past year
The hotel is located in the ancient city of Linhai, Taizhou
The five houses are in one big courtyard
A quadrangle courtyard
Grey brick houses from the 60s
Factory plants from the 90s
A gate separates the hotel
From the outside world
Like a real hermit living in the bustling city
Before becoming a hotel runner
I worked in press
After seven, eight years, I resigned
And hotel was an area with great investment potential
So I decided to pursue a career in the industry
I started next to the West Lake go Hangzhou
My hotels were huge success
Later I went back to my hometown Taizhou
Rented a couple houses, did some restoration
They are connected by an industrial style corridor
Most designers
Graduated from department of architecture at Harvard 27 00:01:08,600 --> 00:01:12,600 The courtyard originally functioned as bathroom and kitchen
Very unsightly
We tore the whole thing down and changed it into a garden
In the front is a quadrangle courtyard
Built towards the end of the Qing Dynasty
Used to be a pawn shop
The ground floor and part of the upper floor
Are converted into an space open to the public
Bare woods
Skylight on the roof
It's like living at your grandma's
The bathrooms are designed see-through
I believe that there should be less curtains and walls
Between lovers
Warehouses and plants of the 90s
The bathroom is the same size as the bedroom
The basic decoration was done in August 2019
Early in August
We were hit by Lekima
The entire city was flooded
We had to kick down the door
The quadrangle courtyard was in one-meter deep floodwater
After the typhoon we did basic self-recovery
Cleaned up the mess
Repaired the furniture
Tons of mud was taken out
The restoration took over three months
Direct economic loss more than a million
We thought a recover was possible over three months
The opening was January 20th, 2020
We were fully booked during the Spring Festival
And the outbreak stuck
During about two months
I stayed alone in the hotel
I joked with my friend
I had the best quarantine environment in the province
An average area of five thousand square meters per person
With private terrace, floor heating and bookstore
Two months later
We reopened on 20th of March
I grew up in the neighborhood
There are places and restaurants to go within 5-10 minute walk
The Ziyang ancient street
Inhabited by indigenous people
The Baitaqiao restaurant, popular among the locals
The place is so full of life
Taizhou city walls were built in the Eastern Jin Dynasty
And reconstructed during the Northern Song Dynasty
Historians say Taizhou city wall is the template of Ming city wall
Longxing temple
It is said that Jianzhen lived here temporarily before going east to Japan
The thousand buddha pagoda in the temple
Was built over one thousand year ago
The hotel
Belongs to me only for a short period of time
I hope that one or two decades later
I can pass the intact hotel on to the next owner