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August 28, 2015

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They don’t make them like they used to

MOST historical buildings along Wukang Road are either garden villas or small apartment buildings. They were mostly constructed between the 1920s and early 1940s and are reminders of a golden chapter in the city’s architectural history.

“New architectural forms, styles and materials have been implanted directly from Europe and the US to Shanghai since the city entered ‘a pioneering era’ at the end of 19th century,” said Tongji University professor Zheng Shiling.

“Comprising many styles from different periods of architecture, Shanghai modern architecture is almost a living architectural history of the world, a panorama of the world’s history. Western architects and Chinese architects who had studied overseas had built a galaxy of artistic yet functional buildings, which were breakthroughs from traditional Chinese architectural forms and spaces,” he added.

The architectural scholars who wrote “Shanghai Wukang Road” classified buildings near the street into four major styles — Spanish residences, British country villas, Art Deco & modern styles, along with French Renaissance forms.

The Spanish residences on Wukang Road resemble those found in suburbs across Spain, which featured bright-colored cement stucco walls, covered porches, curved gables, gentle sloping roofs and red ceramic tiles. The balconies and staircase railings were often decorated with cast iron floral patterns or spiral columns. The cheaper construction cost and decorative style made the homes more popular than the British country style. It was especially popular for small villas in the neighborhood.

The British country villas made at time boasted strong features. Gables and external walls were usually made with a mix of timber and red bricks. They often had steep sloping roofs compared with Spanish residences and occupied more land because they often included a big, lush garden. Good examples included 75 and 99 Wukang Road, which later was the home of renowned entrepreneur Liu Jingji.

Most small apartment buildings along Wukang Road were built in either an Art Deco or modern style, such as the Midget Apartments and Cape Town Apartments.

The French renaissance buildings were built with good proportions and had columns as centerpieces on the façade, such as Laszlo Hudec’s Normandie Apartments, as well as 376, 392 and 395 Wukang Road.

“Buildings along Wukang Road were made in harmony with the surrounding environment, not with the intention to show off the owner’s identity or wealth,” according to the book “Shanghai Wukang Road.”

No wonder the gardens and bamboo-fence walls along the street were so popular in the neighborhood. Architects also used bricks, cement stucco, artificial stones or dry dash. These materials featured great variety and contributed to create an atmosphere close to nature. That’s the character of Wukang Road.




 

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