avezink

As a follow-up to the lovely meeting with the Shanghai Old Houses Club (上海老房子俱乐部), an interview came out in Shanghai Daily. Some of the quotes are inaccurate: "Good to see the city take a break from barbaric growth to focus more on development of culture" is not really my voice or opinion, but oh well.



And here is the meeting:

A good article on Laoximen in Sixth Tone, accompanied by this beautiful personalized map illustrating generational ties to this neighborhood:

Image: Liu Chang for Sixth Tone.

I met Mr. Wu in 2013, and now I was happy to know his story.

An odd fact: the Development Building 建设大楼, opposite the Metropole, was meant to be one part with the Central Police Station 总巡捕房.


Architect D. G. Miriams' drawing of the planned corner building. Image: The China Press, 10 Dec 1931.

The illustration above announced the plan to create a six-story building on the corner of Kiangse and Foochow Roads to house "all branches of the central police force, including the Criminal Investigation Bureau, Police Department, Fingerprint Department, and numerous special branches [...] at present scattered over all parts of the central district." This was published when Metropole and Hamilton House were already rising on two other corners of this intersection.

Instead, the Central Police Station was built in 1933 not on the corner, but in the middle of the block, while the corner was taken up by the Development Building rising much higher than the architect's vision. I think this was for the best, as it created the most impressive intersection anywhere in the International Settlement, firmly pinning down the center of the business district. You can see various angles of it at PastVu.


Part of the Development Building (left) and Central Police Station (center) in 1937. Image: Harrison Forman, AGSL at UWM.


The version of the corner building that was built in 1934 for the Commercial Bank of China, by Davies, Brooke & Gran. Image: minguotupian.com.


The Development Building.

Even luggage tags can be mapped! Image: ebay.

The most recent additions include:

- every view of the Pushkin Monument I could find, in various versions of the bronze bust;
- the only view I know of the largest Russian restaurant La Renaissance;
- this one was tricky! New New Stage (Xin Xin Wutai 新新舞台) that used to be where the Wing-On Tower was built in 1932;
- Shanghai Banking Corporation, architectural drawing and photo;
- rare image of St. Olga's Orphanage in the French Concession (I wrote about it here);
- a variety of drawings and photos of the Chinese YMCA on Sichuan Road;
- various views of the old and new Messageries Maritimes (I wrote about it here);
- some street views are hard to identify, and I have to check by the names of the stores: corner of Fuzhou Road and Fujian Road, Madunhe Hat Store, Sichuan Goods Store, "God Save Our Sale" at Sung Kee.
- I like to tease images out of newspaper pages; this one shows Yih Pin Shang and Jue Lu Hotels at the background;
- Each July 14th issue of Le journal de Shanghai had boastful photo essays about the development of the French Concessions, with some rare views, like this view of the Willow Court and Boissezon Apartments;
- from the same source, this unusual angle of the Cathay Mansions...
- ...and the Church of Christ the King on Rue Bourgeat, which unfortunately has not survived;
- beautiful drawing of the Metropole Hotel;
- Liza Hardoon Building as a drawing in 1935 and under construction in 1937;
- various views of Hope Bros. store;
- Nanking Theatre on Avenue Edward VII under construction;
- and many more.

Link to the map



You can switch between the base maps and use the street grid, Google Scheme, Google Satellite or Yandex Satellite (sometimes sharper than Google).

To switch between architectural drawings and photographs, select the icon with the landscape or the photocamera. To open each image in a new window click the icon with the arrow to the left of the word "Google:"

The redevelopment of a large area in the old town's southeast quarter was approved a few days ago. This area includes Qiaojia Road 乔家路 and everything around it:


The original document is quoted below:

• 索引号：
  SY0024301780201900016


• 发文机关：
  上海市黄浦区人民政府办公室


• 发文字号：
  黄府发〔2019〕008号

区建管委、区房管局：

你部门《关于申请确认黄浦区乔家路地块旧城区改建项目房屋征收范围的请示》（黄建征收〔2019〕7号）收悉。经研究，批复如下：

一、      原则同意乔家路地块旧城区改建项目分东块、西块，分别实施房屋征收。具体范围如下：

乔家路地块（东块）：东至巡道街，南至俞家弄、黄家路，西至光启南路，北至西唐家弄、东梅家弄、引线弄。

乔家路地块（西块）：东至光启南路，南至黄家路，西至南梅溪弄、凝和路，北至蓬莱路、西唐家弄。

详见附图。

二、在启动改建前，按照《上海市国有土地上房屋征收与补偿实施细则》有关规定，组织开展居民意愿征询和房屋征收补偿方案征询工作，在被征收人、房屋承租人同意旧城区改建和签订附生效条件的补偿协议达到规定比例后，方可实施改建工作。

Even if we leave the damage to centuries-old urban communities out of the discussion, the most interesting architecture and historic relics of the old town concentrate within the circuit that is now approved for demolition and redevelopment. When I guide walking tours, we spend most of the time in these blocks. From the mid-sixteenth century onward, this was a prestigious neighborhood, and even today many of the gentry clan residences survive here partially or completely, as well as mutiple remains of old temples, gardens and creeks.

There are:
- Shuyinlou 书隐楼 (they'll obviously leave it standing and "revamp" it);
- Xu Guangqi's residence 九间楼 and his family ancestral hall 徐氏祠堂;
- the gate of the Medicine Merchants' Guildhall 药局;
- Wang Yiting's estate Catalpa Garden 梓园;
- General Qiao's Ming-era residence 乔一琦旧宅;
- nineteenth-century Yu Residence 宜稼堂;
- Qing-era courtyard homes on Yaoju Lane 药局弄;
- Ming- and Qing- era courtyards on Yujia Lane 俞家弄;
- former Zhenwugong Temple 真武宫;
- former Narcissus Hall 水仙宫;
- fine courtyards and shikumen lanes on East Meijia Street 东梅家街;
- old magnolia trees on Meijia Street 梅家街;
- a pair of 17th-century ginkgo trees from the Penglai Monastery 蓬莱道院;
- several 1930s lane compounds on the north side of Qiaojia Road 乔家路;
- several 1920s lane compounds on the south side of Qiaojia Road 乔家路;
- fine quality lane compounds on the south side of Penglai Road 蓬莱路;
- fine residential architecture along Tiandeng Lane 天灯弄;
- other small sites.

The disappearance of these neighborhoods will truly be the end of the old town.






[See more images from the redevelopment area...]

Found this 1940s aerial at an online auction. The top photo shows the northern half of the old town, looking across the northwestern quarter toward the northeastern part. I'd love to have it, but the set of three pictures sold for 23,000 yuan.


Image: Huachen auction.

In the lower right corner (of the top image) we can see the devastation from the wartime artillery raids and conflagrations. That area corresponds to today's Sanpailou Road三牌楼路, Zhangjia Lane 张家弄, Guangqi Road 光启路, Xueyuan Road 学院路, Hongqiao Lane 虹桥弄, etc, all of which were built up again after 1949. The curved path at the bottom is Fuxing Road 复兴东路.

My talk on the old town in the Russian Consulate on January 31, at 6:30 pm.

http://www.russianshanghai.com/events/post11792




UPDATE: More than one hundred people turned up, and extra chairs had to be brought in from all corners of the Russian Consulate. A very warm reception!