11
SHANGHAI
735-
by public funds for public use. They occupy a prominent site, which is bounded by four roads; the principal front being upon the Nanking Road, after the Bund the main thoroughfare of the Settlement. The plan divides the block into two portions, that fac- ing Nanking Road being for use by the European community as a Town Hall and Market, and the portion in the rear as a Chinese Market. This latter is an airy open building 156 feet by 140 feet, two storeys high, constructed entirely of iron and steel with con- crete floors and a roof glazed in such a manner as to admit the north light only. A four-way staircase connects the two floors and is surmounted by an octagonal dome 40- feet in diameter. The front building is of red brick with stone dressings. The lower floor consists of the European market, 156 feet by 80 feet, and an arcade, 156 feet by 45 feet, employed for the same purpose. A special and striking feature of the building is the handsome staircase entered from Nanking Road and leading to the Town Hall on the first floor. The walls and arches of this stairease are finished in clean red briek- work with stone dressings, the steps being of concrete with stone handrails and ballus- ters, and encaustie tile floors to halls and landings. The Town Hall is also used by the Shanghai Volunteers for drill purposes. It presents an imposing appearance, being 156 feet long, 80 wide, and 26 feet high to the tiebeams of the roof, a massively timbered gallery crossing one end. The floor is of teak laid on steel joists and concrete. The windows are of cathedral glass and the joinery and dado in this room are of polished teak. Adjoining this Hall are other large rooms used for public meetings, a Volunteers' Club and other purposes. The buildings are lighted throughout by ineandes- cent electric lights, the Town Hall having six 300 candle-power incandescent lamps besides the numerous side lights. The whole of the buildings form an effective group, although the narrowness of the streets on the East and West sides considerably detracts from the possibility of obtaining a good view of the block. They took about eighteen montlis to erect and were built from the designs and under the superinten- dence of Mr. C. Mayne, C.E., the Municipal Engineer, and Mr. F. M. Gratton, F.R.I.B.A., of the firm of Morrison & Gratton, of Shanghai, as joint architects and engineers. Towards the close of 1913 additional land at a cost of about Tls. 555,000 was purchased and plans were prepared and submitted to the President R.1.B.A. for a new block of Cen- tral Municipal Offices to occupy the whole of the site bounded by Hankow, Kiangse, Foochow and Honan Roads. The work of construction was commenced in March, 1915, and completed in 1922, at a cost of one and three-quarter million Taels, the open- ing ceremony being performed by Mr. H. G. Simms, Chairman of the Municipal Council, on November 16th. The site of the whole administrative block is nearly 26 mow,in extent and the assessed value is approximately Tis. 1,600,000. The main part of the building is on Hankow Road, overlooking the Cathedral compound. Being of massive construction, and with every detail carefully worked out with an eye to architectural beauty, and with a central ornamental tower reaching 150 feet above the ground, the new offices form an imposing pile. A new Mixed Court was completed in 1899. A monument to the niemory of Mr. A. R. Margary, of the British Consular service, who was murdered by Chinese in Yunnan, was unveiled in June, 1880, and a statue of the late Sir Harry Parkes, British Minister to Peking was ereeted in 1890. A bronze monument in memory of the crew of the German gunboat Iltis, lost in a typhoon off the coast of Shantung on 25th July, 1896, was erected on the Bund, at the end of the Peking Road in November, 1898, but was broken down during the Armistice celebrations in 1918. A bronze statue by Mr. Henry Pegram, A.R.A., of Sir Robert Hart, late Inspector- General of Chinese Maritime Customs, subscribed for by the community, was erected on the Bund near the Customs House in 1913. The statue is nine feet in height and stands on a granite pedestal eight feet ligh. The principal buildings in the French Concession are the Municipal Hall and the Consulate. In 1914 a new building for the Cercle Sportif Francais was thrown open to the members of the club and their friends, the more humble pavilion having given place to a handsome two- storied edifice. So popular has the Club become that in December, 1923, M. Wilden, the Consul-General for France, inaugurated the building of a new home for it by cutting the first sod in Verdun Gardens. A bron statue of Admiral Protet, who was killed when directing an attack on Na-yao on 17th May, 1862, stands in front of the Municipal Hall. The Public Markets of the French Concession are large and well built and are perfect as regards sanitary arrangements. An efficient tram service is maintained in both Settlements. The Shanghai Tramway Co.'s statistics for 1922 showed that over a system covering but 17.765 route miles and 25.825 track miles no fewer than 126,684,226 passengers were carried. This extraordinary figure of over 19,500 passengers per route mile per day is believed to be unequalled in the world.