Wukang building

Wukang building, formerly known as i.s.s Normandy apartments, is located at 1842-1858 Huaihai Middle Road, Xuhui District, Shanghai. Located at the intersection of Huaihai middle road and Wukang Road, the building is flat and like an iron. The building is eight stories high, with a total height of more than 30 meters. Its appearance is French Renaissance style. The first and second floor walls are concrete imitation stone walls, making it the style of the building base. On the third to seventh floors, the walls are covered with tawny bricks. The eighth floor of the top floor continues to use cement imitation stone walls, so the building presents three different sections. Founded in 1924, funded by the world savings association and designed by Hudec, a famous architect living in Shanghai, it is the first veranda apartment building in Shanghai. At that time, the first and second floors of the building were generally used for shops, and from the third floor, they were basically residential houses. Each room in the building faced south and the corridor faced north. Some celebrities in the cultural and performing arts circles have lived here, including Zhao Dan, Wang Renmei, Qin Yi, sun Daolin, Zheng Junli, etc. There are still people living inside, and there are security guards at the door of the building. The road near Wukang building is full of French Renaissance style. Sitting on the open-air dining table of the roadside coffee shop, drinking a cup of coffee and basking in the sun, it's like entering another time and space.

Wukang building

Wukang building is the first veranda apartment building in Shanghai. It was built in 1924, funded by the world savings association and designed by Hudec, a famous architect living in Shanghai. In 1994, Wukang building was selected as the second batch of outstanding historical buildings in Shanghai.

brief introduction

Wukang building, formerly known as i.s.s Normandy apartments, is located at 1842-1858 Huaihai Middle Road, Xuhui District, Shanghai. The building was built in 1924, funded by the world savings association and designed by Hudec, a famous architect living in Shanghai. It is the first veranda apartment building in Shanghai.

history

In the 1920s, with the further expansion of the concession and the rapid influx of population in the last decade, as well as the emergence of new residential building forms in Europe and the United States, apartment buildings began to appear in Shanghai. During this period, the world savings association funded the establishment of China Jianye real estate company, which is responsible for the development and operation of the real estate industry in Shencheng. In 1924, China Jianye real estate company purchased the land at the 30 ° angle of Huaihai middle road and Wukang Road, and invested in the construction of apartment houses. The apartment is designed by Hudec, a Hungarian designer from Kerry company, and the contractor is French company HUAFA.

At that time, the apartments or residential areas of Jianye real estate in Shanghai were generally named after French place names, so after the completion of the building, it was named after Normandy, the peninsula in northwest France. Normandy apartment is one of the earliest modern high-rise apartments in Shanghai. At that time, most of the people living in the apartments were upper class expatriates. According to the records in the Shanghai street guide column of the "China Travel Directory" published by Zilin foreign company in 1937, there were a large number of senior staff of foreign companies and foreign businessmen living here at that time, such as the general sales agent of Jiadi huoyou property company, the manager of Shanghai Office of Meiya insurance company, and the manager of Siemens Shanghai company. After the outbreak of the Pacific War, a large number of British, American and French expatriates lived in concentration camps or deported for Japanese troops. By 1945, Normandy had only one-third occupancy.

In 1945, with the victory of the Anti Japanese War and the maturity of the debt business of the world savings association, it was difficult for the world savings association, which suffered serious losses in wartime, to pay off its debts. At that time, the creditors who participated in the process asked the Shanghai municipal government to intervene in order to protect the interests of creditors. In 1946, the Shanghai municipal government ordered Wanguo savings association to go bankrupt. Most of its industries were auctioned by the municipal government, and the cash obtained was used to pay off its debts. Some industries are purchased by the government, while Normandy apartment is one of the industries purchased by the government. After that, most of the apartments were allocated to civil servants by the city government.

In 1953, Normandy apartment was taken over by Shanghai Municipal People's government and renamed as Wukang building. Later, some celebrities in the cultural and performing arts circles, including Zhao Dan, Wang Renmei, Qin Yi, sun Daolin, Zheng Junli, Wang Wenjuan and so on, stayed here.

Architecture

Wukang building covers an area of 1580 square meters, with a total construction area of 9275 square meters. The overall structure of the building is reinforced concrete, eight stories high, with a total height of more than 30 meters. The appearance is French Renaissance style. Due to the limited geographical location, the bottom floor of the building adopts the style of arcade, which shrinks the shop windows inward and leaves sidewalk space. In addition, the facade of the first floor and the second floor adopts the cement imitation stone wall, making it the style of the building base. From the third floor to the seventh floor, the facade is overlaid with yellow brown bricks. The eighth floor of the top floor continues to use cement imitation stone walls, so the building presents three different sections. In the third and eighth floor, the designer uses the peripheral continuous long balcony as the three-stage waist line, and strengthens its sense of hierarchy. In the north of the building, in order to solve the problem of room lighting, the designer specially set aside two large patios in the north.

The first and second floors of the building are generally used for shops such as storefronts. From the third floor, they are basically residential houses. There are 63 Suites in total, and more than 30 servant houses, basically facing south. Every room in the building faces south and the corridor faces north. The kitchen and bathroom of each unit are generally arranged on the north side. There is a special ventilation channel inside the toilet. In addition to the spiral staircase, there are also three elevators for passengers and goods. Although it has been repaired for many times, the elevator of the building still retains the floor indicator with semicircular pointer in the middle of last century.

In 1930, Wanguo savings association built a new five storey building on the east side of the apartment, which was named new Wukang building (vice building of Wukang building), with a construction area of 1700 square meters. In addition, there is a 1400 square meter garage and attached house at 435 Wukang road.

Traffic information

Bus: take bus No.26, 911, 920, 926 to Wukang Road Station of Huaihai middle road.

Address: No. 1850, Huaihai Middle Road, Huangpu District, Shanghai (northeast corner of the intersection of Huaihai middle road and Tianping Road)

Longitude: 121.43832582235

Latitude: 31.20447765695

Tel: 021-64312725

Tour time: 30 minutes is recommended

Traffic information: take bus No.26, 911, 920, 926 to middle Huaihai Road and Wukang road

Ticket information: no ticket required

Opening hours: all day

Chinese PinYin : Wu Kang Da Lou