The Mansion of Zhang Pu is located at 57 Xinhua West Road, Chengxiang Town, Taicang City. It was listed as a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level by the State Council of China in 2006.
Zhang Pu (1602-1641), born in Taicang, was a famous writer and political activist in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). The mansion of Zhang Pu was first built during the Tianqi Period of Ming Dynasty and it was originally the mansion of his uncle Zhang Fuzhi who was the Ministry of Works in late Ming dynasty. The property belongs to Zhang family until the late Qing dynasty, which is about 230 years in total. The mansion covers an area of 1,400 square meters and the building area is 1,507 square meters. The first hall is the entrance hall, which was commonly known as “Hall of Hats”. Then the Main Hall, in two story and as wide as 5 rooms, was built with 5 purlin beams, and there was a small room or veranda with windows in front and a corridor at the back of it. Next is the Rear Building, which is also built with 5 purlin beams. It has and corridors both in front and at the back. There was also Wing Buildings with corridors on both east and west sides of the courtyard. The covered wall, brick carvings and decoration on the door were all preserved well. There’s a small garden like courtyard at the back of the building with square gateways at both sides.
The value of the mansion of Zhang Pu lies in the relatively fine preservation of the building styles of mansion for Ministry of Works in Ming Dynasty. It has a rather higher standard, superb building craftsmanship, and reasonable layouts. The main structural members of this mansion were architectural relics of the Ming Dynasty.