Directory_and_Chronicle_1925 — Page 806

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SHANGHAI

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 has taken place on the Bund and its vicinity, where ferro-concrete structures of 5, 6 and 7 storeys are replacing 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 16 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. In connection with the latter there is a time-ball on the French Bund. Under the direction of this institution, a complete system of meteorological observations, embra- cing the whole of the China Seas, is carried out. The Shanghai Club occupies a large and elaborate building at one end of the English Bund. The original structure cost £42,000, and at that is said to have ruined three contractors. It was opened in 1864 and passed through a varied and peculiar history, and finally, having been found too small for its membership, new and imposing premises were erected on the same site and opened in 1911. On October 22nd, 1904, the foundation of a new German Club was laid by Prince Adelbert of Prussia, to replace the old Club Concordia. This building is a large edifice, with some pretension to architectural display in German Renaissance style. It was closed when China joined the Allies. The present buildings of the Britisli Consulate and Supreme Court, at the other end of the Bund, were opened in 1872. Near them is a fine Masonic Hall, recently partially re-built.. Amongst the other conspicuous buildings may be mentioned those occupied by the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, the Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China, Russo-Asiatic Bank, the Yokohama Specie Bank, Jardine, Matheson & Co., the Glen Line, the North China Daily News, the Eastern Extension and Great Northern Telegraph Companies, the Palace Hotel, Astor House Hotel, the offices of the Chinese Mutual Life Insurance Co., Ltd., and the Union and McBain Buildings. A large scheme for building offices and residential flats on the Nanking Road between Szechuan and Kiangse Roads was put in hand by the late Mr. E. I. Ezra. The scheme included the laying out of a new thoroughfare, the surrender of land at the narrowest portion of Nanking Road and the erection of five blocks of buildings. The Lyceum Theatre, situate in Museum Road, is a fair building seating 700 persons, opened in January, 1874, and extensively altered and improved during 1901 and again in 1906.

A new Custom-house was completed in 1893 on the site of the old building on the Bund. It was in the Tudor style, of red brick with facings of green Ningpo stone, and was for many years a land mark. It is now being replaced by a steel framed structure faced with granite on the principal fronts, which will occupy the whole site bounded by the Bund, Hankow and Szechuen roads. Another fine building is the Central Police Station in Foochow Road, large and spacious, of red brick with stone dressings, but lacking frontage and surrounding space to set it off to full advantage. The new Town Hall and! Public Markets were completed in 1899, and form the first block of buildings erected.