Lou Kau Mansion, Heritage mansion in Sé, Macau.

Lou Kau Mansion is a two-story residence in Sé built with grey-brick walls, featuring three interior courtyards and traditional Chinese rooms arranged symmetrically. The building follows a nine-grid layout pattern that organizes the spaces around these courtyards in the manner of classical Chinese domestic architecture.

Built in 1889 as the residence of merchant Lou Kau, the house passed to outsiders after his family declined and was subdivided, housing more than twenty refugee households at its peak. Lacking maintenance before the 1980s, much of it was demolished or altered, and the rear sections were torn down. The Macau Cultural Affairs Bureau began restoration in July 2002 and opened part of the building to the public in mid-2005.

The house is named after Lou Kau, the merchant who built it in 1889. Its decoration mixes Cantonese work such as brick carving, plaster moulding and oyster-shell windows with Portuguese louvred shutters, false ceilings and cast-iron balustrades. The Macau Chinese Orchestra gives small concerts here.

The mansion sits near Senado Square and opens Tuesday through Sunday between 10:00 and 18:00, with final entry at 17:30. The walk-through typically takes an hour or so, and the building is easy to access on foot from nearby streets.

The interior spaces follow a hierarchical arrangement with three main halls: the Entrance Hall, Tea Hall, and Senior Hall, each representing different aspects of traditional family life. This spatial organization reveals how the household was structured and how family members and guests moved through the home according to social rank.