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Essential Architecture- The Bund, Shanghai China Bank of Communications Building |
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| presently | It now houses the Shanghai Council of Trade Unions. |
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architect |
C. H. Gonda |
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location |
No. 14, The Bund, Shanghai, China |
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date |
1948- was the last building to be built on the Bund. |
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style |
Art Deco |
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construction |
masonry |
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type |
Bank |
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| Above image ©Paul Pak-hing Lee - 1997 | |
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| Above image reproduced with the generous permission of Simon Fieldhouse. Copyright Simon Fieldhouse. www.simonfieldhouse.com | |
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The original premises occupied by the Bank of Communications on the Bund
had been built in 1902 for the German Asiatic Bank by Heinrich Becker,
who also designed the Russo-Chinese Bank next door. Following the denial
of German extraterritorial rights in 1912 the bank was closed in August
of that year and forced into liquidation by the Nationalist government.
A. C. Stephen of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank was entrusted with
overseeing the dissolution of the institution. The Bank of
Communications moved in on 25 th February 1920. The second and third
floors of their new four story, Italian neo-Renaissance style building
had been formerly let out as luxurious apartments. The Bank of
Communications, one of China’s oldest banking institutions dating from
1908, was created by a special charter allowing it to handle all
revenues from the railroads, posts and telegraphs, as well as the
administration of ocean and river navigation. A further charter was
granted by the Republican government in 1914 that permitted it to deal
in government bond issues and treasury notes. Whilst work on rebuilding
the bank was underway in 1948, a safe, dating back to the years of its
original German occupants, was found hidden deep in its walls. Despite
speculation that it contained secret German documents or a hoard of gold
and gems nothing of interest was brought to light. The building’s
architect, C. H. Gonda, who put together designs for the building 11
years earlier, had revolutionized the appearance of bank buildings in
Shanghai with his modernist design for the Bank of East Asia on nearby
Central Sichuan Road in 1928. |
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links |
http://web.utk.edu/~plee3/shanghai.html http://www.simonfieldhouse.com/shanghai.htm |
| www.essential-architecture.com | |