A French-style villa that was built in the early 1900s near downtown Ho Chi Minh City is on sale for a hefty US$35 million, a city-based newspaper reported on Thursday.

The owners of the villa, which fronts Vo Van Tan, Ba Huyen Thanh Quan, and Nguyen Thi Dieu streets in District 3, originally asked for $47 million for the 2,800-sqm, three-faceted building, according to Nguoi Lao Dong (Laborer) newspaper.

The villa was built during the French colonial period with construction materials reportedly brought from France and other European countries.

Nguoi Lao Dong said it took dozens of highly-skilled builders nearly a year to finish the structure.

The property, located at 110-112 Vo Van Tan Street, is thus called the “French house” by local residents. After more than a hundred years, the house retains its French architecture and is in quite good condition.

The villa owners, Dang Kim Chi and Nguyen Kim Sa Dang, both in their late 70s, still live in the house.

The building is furnished with many antiques, some worth billions of dong.

Chi and Dang say they are most concerned that the new owner of the villa will demolish the building to replace it with a modern one.

Saigon would thus lose an example of architecture with profound history, they say.

Sadly, this could well be the case.

Ho Ngoc Lam, a realty expert, said the villa deserves the $35 million selling price, given its “prime location.”

“Investors can quickly recoup investment if they replace the villa with a trade center or an office building,” he told the newspaper.

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