Asia Building

Asia Building

Asia building is located on the Bund of Yan'an East Road in Shanghai. It was used by Shanghai Metallurgical Design Institute after the liberation of Shanghai. It was built in 1916. At that time, it was also called "the first Bund building". There is also an Asian building in Hankou.

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Shanghai

Asiatic building is located on the Bund of East Yan'an Road, No.1, East Zhongshan Road, Shanghai. It was used by Shanghai Metallurgical Design Institute after the liberation of Shanghai. It is also called "Metallurgical Design Institute building". However, older people are still used to call it "Asiatic building". This building was built in 1916, with a height of 7 stories. It was the tallest building on the Bund at that time, and it also got the house number of No. 1 Zhongshan East Road. Therefore, it was also called "the first building on the Bund" at that time.

After the opening of Shanghai as a port, it used to be the property of Zhaofeng foreign company. In 1899, it was bought by another British businessman named macbian. In 1913, macbian decided to demolish the old house and rebuild a business office building. So some people call this building "macbian building". In 1917, except for the use of macbian, most of the building was rented to Asiatic fire oil company, which was allowed to hang the sign of "Asiatic" company on the front door of the building. As "Asia" is a big company monopolizing China's petroleum products, and fire oil is a widely used daily necessities, people are deeply impressed, so the name of "macbian building" is gradually replaced by "Asia Building".

Asia building was built in 1916, designed by Ma Haiyang and constructed by yuchangtai construction plant. It covers an area of 1739 square meters and a building area of 11984 square meters. It is a reinforced concrete frame structure. The exterior of the building has both classical style and neoclassical style, which is also called eclecticism style. The facade is in Baroque architectural style. There are four Ionic columns on the front door, two on the left and two on the left, and two small columns on the inner door, one on the left and one on the left. The lintel is decorated with deformed Baroque scroll patterns, creating a gorgeous and rich style. The East and south facades are in horizontal and vertical three section format. The first and second floors of the exterior wall are built with granite face bricks to form the foundation; the concave part of the third to fifth floors is the inner balcony, surrounded by semi circular iron bars; and the sixth and seventh floors are equipped with Ionic columns. The plane of the building is zigzag with a patio in it. The outer side of each floor is office, large bay, wooden floor, the inner side is corridor, the window is 2m high, very bright. The corridor is covered with white tiles, and the floor is paved with mosaic. In 1939, the building was further raised from seven to eight floors.

After the outbreak of the Pacific War, the Asian building was occupied by the Japanese army, and most of the British personnel of the company moved to Chongqing. After the victory of the Anti Japanese War, the company resumed business and merged the South China and North China companies, and its business performance exceeded that before the war. In 1950, the Asia building was taken over by East China oil company. In 1959, Shanghai Metallurgical Design Institute, Shanghai real estate administration and Shanghai silk company moved into office. In 1996, the Bund house was replaced, and the building became the headquarters of China Pacific Insurance Company. The building was designated as a cultural relic protection unit in Shanghai in 1989.

history

Construction history

After the opening of Shanghai as a port, it was originally the property of Zhaofeng, a British firm, and later transferred to Qichang, an American firm. In 1891, Qichang foreign company closed down. It was once owned by China Merchants Group, and then changed its ownership several times. In 1913, it was invested by Macbeth company. The old house was demolished and the building was built. It was completed in 1916. It was originally called Macbeth building. In 1917, the building was purchased by British Business Asia fire oil company, so it was named Asia building.

Asia building is designed by Ma Haiyang and constructed by yuchangtai construction plant. It covers an area of 1739 square meters and a building area of 11984 square meters. It is a reinforced concrete frame structure. There are gates on both sides of the East (along the Bund) and the South (at No. 2, Yan'an East Road), and the East is the main gate. The exterior is eclectic style, the facade is Baroque, the front door has four Ionic columns, two on the left and two on the right, the inner door has small Ionic columns, the door has a semicircular top, carved with patterns. There are Baroque decorations in the area. The East and south facades are three sections horizontally and three sections vertically. The concave part of the second to fifth floors has balconies and semicircular iron railings, and the sixth and seventh floors have Ionic columns. The southeast corner is concave into the arc wall, which makes the facade changeable. The first and second floors of the exterior wall are built with granite bricks to form a base. The plane is zigzag with a patio in it. The outside of each floor is the office with large bay and wooden floor. Inside the corridor, the window is 2 meters high, which looks bright. The corridor is covered with white tiles and mosaic floor. In 1939, the building was raised one more floor. On the pillars on both sides of the main gate of the Asia building, there were two bronze medals of shell holding pillars (i.e. arc). When the company left the building, they were removed to the office of Yuanmingyuan building together. Now they are stored in Shanghai History Museum as historical relics.

Business history

In old China, oil used by people and industry was imported from foreign countries. After the 1880s, most people gave up the habit of lighting with oil lamps and red candles and switched to oil lamps (also known as foreign oil lamps). The market of oil became more and more popular. Shanghai was the first port to import and sell the largest amount of oil in China. At that time, all the oil was sold to China by foreign companies. Among them, meizheng foreign company, which is affiliated to Rockefeller group of the United States, was the first one to operate China's oil business. At that time, the oil transported by Mobil foreign company from Indonesia arrived in Shanghai and was exclusively sold by Ye Chengzhong, a famous businessman. In 1900, the U.S. Army set up a company in Shanghai, and in 1904, it set up an oil depot in Shanghai. British Asiatic fire oil company also set up an office at 7 Jiujiang Road, Shanghai in 1907. Asia is a subsidiary of shell transport and trading company and Royal Dutch oil company. Its head office is in London and its branches cover five continents.

In China, there are South China company (operating oil business in Hong Kong, Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian) and North China company (operating oil transportation, sales and storage in Shanghai and other provinces of China). In 1904, Texaco, an American company, set up a branch in Shanghai. At the beginning, it was more powerful than Asia. After all, Texaco was the second oil monopoly organization in the world (the US Army ranked first in the world at that time), and Texaco soon ranked third. In order to compete for the Chinese market, the three companies all tried their best, and the white hot competition extended to factories, rural areas and small towns. At that time, the advertisements of these two companies and many small cigarette stores in the countryside were often seen in the powder wall factories along the railway, highway and river in Zhongtong village, and their brands were also nailed as their sales points.

Soon after the establishment of the Chinese people's own Guanghua oil company, the three companies panicked and colluded with each other. The concession Industry Bureau did not issue a note (license) to Guanghua's gas station. The three companies even made it difficult for Guanghua to sell its kerosene at a lower price. Finally, Guanghua bought it for the US Army. Asia's annual oil sales account for a quarter of China's demand and make a lot of money. Asia also has three major oil depots in Shanghai, which are located in gaoqiaosha, lingjiamuqiao and Xidu. As soon as Asia established its office in Shanghai, it tried to seize the Chinese market by dumping at a low price. In 1908, the net weight of each tin of kerosene was 15kg, and the price was only 0.75 yuan. By 1926, the price was 2.5 yuan.

In 1950, the Asia building was taken over by East China Petroleum Company. In 1959, Shanghai Metallurgical Design Institute, Shanghai Real Estate Administration Bureau and Shanghai silk company moved into office. It was managed by the real estate department in 1966 and became the headquarters of China Pacific Insurance Company in the Bund house replacement in 1996. When the Pacific War broke out, the Asian company was taken over by the Japanese army, and most of its British personnel fled to Chongqing. After the victory of the Anti Japanese War, the company resumed business and merged the South China and North China companies, and its business performance exceeded that before the war. After the founding of the people's Republic of China, its branches all over the world closed down one after another. The company in Shanghai retained more than 50 people, and its trade activities gradually decreased. It only engaged in chemical fertilizer, pesticide and other businesses. They were all closed in 1966.

architectural style

In 1916, the building was completed. It is another reinforced concrete frame structure building after the Shanghai Federation. Its successful design and construction has played a certain role in promoting the development of the Bund modern architecture to a higher level. The building is a eclecticism style building, the appearance adopts baroque style supplemented by ionic column, Baroque style uses curved surface, curve, break, density and other techniques, highlights the concave convex undulation and sense of movement of facade and space, pays attention to visual effect, and makes the building magnificent. The gate of the building has four large columns, and there are two small columns beside the porch, which makes the vision deeply felt. The gate ticket is an arched structure, and the semi protruding circle relief pattern is adopted, which makes the shape and line of the gate full of changes. On the lintel is a Baroque sculpture of broken mountain flowers. There are balconies of Baroque corridor type on the third to fifth floors. The southeast corner of the building is made into concave arc, which adds three-dimensional effect and vortex shape change to the building. The plane of the building is in a zigzag shape, which makes the building like a shaft wall. The outer side of each floor is surrounded by offices, and the inner side is a spacious corridor. There are 2m high steel windows for daylighting and ventilation, so that the air convection is smooth and the light is bright. This zigzag structure is the only one in the Bund buildings. The building had seven floors when it was first built, and one floor was added in the 28th year of the Republic of China.

Visiting time

Renaissance Asia Building (former Shanghai Metallurgical Design Institute), Shanghai General Office

Chinese PinYin : Ya Xi Ya Da Lou