Bagua Mansion

Bagua Mansion was a large villa built in 1907 by Lin Heshou from Taiwan, China, who was cousin of Lin Erjia. It covers a land area of about 11,000m2, a total floor area of about 5,800m2, ranking on the top in both volume and height among all the villas in Kulangsu.
Desiring an extra large villa of novel and unique style, with a great view of Amoy and Kulangsu, and also distinctive among foreigners' villas, Lin bought the land from the Boyd & Co., and had John Otte, the then director of Hope Hospital for whom he had once made some donations, to conduct the design. However, the construction cost was so huge that it exceeded the original budget. Lin was unable to raise enough funds. Even though he went back to Taiwan and sold some of his properties to keep the project going, the interior and the roof were still not finished by 1920. Lin had no choice but to declare bankrupt and leave away. In 1924, Japanese Consulate took over the project and funded the rest of construction works. After the villa was completed, Xu Ying Academy was founded here. In 1938, with Xiamen being occupied, the mansion was once used as a refuge.
The building is of western classical revival style with a rectangular plane layout. Colonnade with giant Tuscan columns is set in the middle of each side. There are corridors forming a cross shape inside the building. And in the centre of each floor, there is a winding corridor surrounding the octagonal hall below the dome. What most impressive are the octagonal shape of the roof and the red octagonal dome, by which the mansion is named.
Bagua Mansion, as the largest villa in Kulangsu of that time, has witnessed the construction activities and practices of Chinese people, as well as the communication and exchange of Chinese and foreign cultures in the first half of the 20th century. The building also stands out as an important landmark of the historic landscape of Kulangsu today.