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SHANGHAI
boundary. Six new bridges were erected in
erected in 1901 to connect the extended Settlements. A new stcel bridge over the mouth of the Soochow Creek was completed in 1908, replacing the wooden "Garden Bridge" erected in 1873.
It has two equal spans
of 171′ 21′′, the width is 60 feet with a carriage-way of 36 feet 9 inches; the gradient of the approaches is 1 in 30; the headway above high-water from 6′ 6′′ to 11".
There are several good driving roads extending into the country, two leading to Sicawei, a distance of about six miles, and one to Jessfield by the banks of the Soochow Creek, for five miles, with an extension measuring some thirteen miles to the extreme limits of the Shanghai hsein district and now called the Rubicon. Another broad thoroughfare, Yang- tzepoo Road, formerly ran by the side of the river for five miles. It has recently been extended to Woosung, the official opening of the extension, which is 30 feet wide, taking place in May, 1919. The termini of Jessfield Road and Yangtzepoo Road now mark the limits in their separate directions of the Foreign Settlements. The land for a new road from Sicawei to Jessfield was acquired in 1905. Several other roads liave been proposed, but although foreigners are prepared to pay high prices for the land the opposition of the officials has hitherto prevented their construction. Now, however, by the granting of the extension of the Settlements the Municipal Council has the right to build and police roads in certain adjacent districts. The foreshore in front of the Settlement has been reclaimed, raised, turfed, and planted with shrubs, and forms a spacious and delightful promenade. The trees planted some years ago having now attained a good height, and a number of imposing buildings having been completed, the English and French Bunds form a magnificent boulevard. widening of the Bund from Peking Road to the Garden Bridge was commenced in 1920.
The
Many foreign houses, surrounded by gardens, have been erected near the outside roads, especially on the Bubbling Well, Sicawei, and Sinza Roads, which are the main outlets from the Settlement, and from which most of the other roads branch off. These roads are planted with trees on both sides, forming fine avenues of five to six miles in length. Building activity of late years may be described as remarkable and unparalleled in the history of the port. The number of new
new buildings erected in the International Settlement in 1914 totalled 8,824, in 1915 6,892, in 1916 6,767, in 1917 3,926, in 1918 2,968, in 1919 3,131, in 1920 3,500, in 1921 5,344 and in 1922 5,487, the estimated cost of these last being nearly sixteen million taels. Building operations, particularly of a residential nature, have been carried out with equal fervour in the French Concession. During the last five or six years big granite and concrete offices of a type hitherto unknown locally, and as nearly approaching the "sky- scraper" variety as the subsoil would permit, have been erected. Extensive rebuilding is taking place on the Bund, where ferro-concrete structures of 5, 6 and 7 storeys are taking the place of the old hongs, prominent amongst these being the premises of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, N. C. Daily News, Chartered Bank, Yokohama Specie Bank, Messrs. Jardine, Matheson & Co., and the Glen Line. In the western district dwelling-houses of the better-class have sprung up like mushrooms.
Shanghai can boast of many fine buildings of various and varied styles of architecture. The first English church, built in 1847, did not long exist, for in 1850 the roof fell in. It was, however, patched up, and continued in use till 1862, when it gave way to a building professedly only temporary. On the 16th May, 1866, accordingly, the foundation-stone was laid of a new building which was opened for public worship in August, 1869. Although at the time considered extravagantly large, the congregation has since outgrown the accommodation. It possesses a fine organ, and a full and highly-trained choir. It is Gothic of the thirteenth century, according to the practice of the day, 152 feet long, 58 feet wide, and 54 feet from the floor to the apex of the nave. The structure was not completed, however, until 1892, when the spire was erected, the cross being placed on the top on the 4th October of that year. It attains a total height of 160 feet and, like the body of the edifice, is built of red brick, with stone dressing. There is a Roman Catholic Church in the French Concession called St. Joseph's, built in 1862, and another in Hongkew known as the Church of the Sacred Heart. There are also the Union Church on the Soochow Creek, a church with spire and bells in Yunnan Road, belonging to the American Methodist Episcopal Mission, a chapel belonging to the London Mission, and two to the American Episcopalians, the church of St. Andrew, in Broadway, Hongkew, which, besides serving as a Seamen's church, acts also as a chapel of ease to the Anglican Cathedral, besides several mission chapels for natives. The Jesuit Fathers have an extensive mission establishment and orphanages at Sicawei, where a mission has existed for over a hundred years. The present church was built in 1851. To this mission is attached a museum of natural history, etc., and an astronomical and meteorological Observatory.
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