Text with kind permission from www.hudec.sh

Grand Theatre, known today as the Grand Cinema, is located at 216 West Nanjing Road. It was built on the site of old houses owned by the United Movies Co., Ltd, who took 1.1 million Liang of Silvers to clear the site. Designed in October 1931 and completed in May 1933, the three-storey building with reinforced concrete structure covers 4,016 square-meters of site area and 6,249.5 square-meters of building area. B. J. Lindskog designed the structural engineering and the English company Eastern Ironworks undertook the mechanical engineering aspects.
With the interleaving of vertical and horizontal lines and cubes on the street façade, and light yellow stucco on the external walls, the theatre has a modern Art-Deco style, from exterior to interior. The entrance was composed of 12 high glass doors with chromium-alloy-steel frames and black marble inlay in walls on both sides. Upon an ivory glass canopy, above the entrance, there is a large window with strong vertical-lines, attached to which was a cubic translucent glass lighting box 30.5-meters high. During the night, the light box seemed to glow.
The whole façade was quite modern in its varied layout, flowing lines, powerful contrasts and vivid colours. The elegant auditorium was designed in the shape of a bell parallel to the longitudinal axis of the site in order to make the best use of this limited and irregular plot. There were 2,016 seats arranged in concentric circles, in both upper and lower storeys of the auditorium, achieving the maximum application of business area as well as guaranteeing the comfort of the interior space. Hidden lighting systems with grooves were applied in the auditorium, entrance and rest halls. Thanks to the cooling air system with a jet supply scheme, there is neither a vent nor noise in the theatre. The lobbies on the first and second floor were all designed in cashew shapes, and linked to the entrance hall with two straight-run stairs.
The ceiling, the walls of both sides and the decoration on the walls were totally designed into flowing curves. In this way, all halls were united into one comfortable, active and unique public space. What a smart and creative solution for this difficult site in its compact urban context.
For its extremely modern and luxurious characteristics, the Grand Theatre was reputed as “the best theatre in the Far East”. As an important milestone in Hudec’s architectural life in Shanghai, the completion of the Grand Theatre marked the turning point of Hudec’s architecture style. With his accurate understanding of commercial projects, outstanding talent for dealing with difficult design contexts such as complex sites, sophisticated functions etc. and skillful expression Hudec gradually established his status as one of the most important modern architects in Shanghai. (The building has been listed as Heritage Architecture of Shanghai since 1989.)

Text with kind permission from www.Hudec.cn

Shanghai Joint Savings Society Building, known today as the International Hotel, or Park Hotel, is located at No. 170 West Nanjing Road. It was named after the allied bank founded in 1923 by the Yienyieh Commercial Bank, Kincheng Banking corporation, the China and South Sea Bank and the Continental Bank. Designed in March 1931 and completed in December 1934, the building is 83.8-metres high and contains 22 stories above ground and another 2 stories underground. Built by Voh Kee Construction Company, the piling project was finished by a Danish Company established by Corrit.
Taking early American skyscrapers in New York and Chicago as a source of inspiration, J.S.S. Building was designed in a style of modern Art Deco with long vertical stripes shrinking layer upon layer on the elevations and creating a setback skyline at the top of the tower above the 15th floor. The facade is mostly covered with brown facing bricks while the bottom is coated with black granite. All these materials are produced in China. The building has a steel frame structure, coated with concrete for fireproofing, and reinforced concrete floors. Thanks to the raft foundation of reinforced concrete and the dense and deep sheet-piling, the building has the least subsidence among the high-rises built in Shanghai at that time. Each floor is equipped with hydrants, automatic extinguishing spray devices and artesian units along with a tap water supply system. Its cold air system was also the first application among hotels built in China at that time.
J.S.S Building has been reputed as the tallest in the Far East for several decades and the highest landmark in Shanghai for nearly half a century. It is Hudec’s masterpiece of modernism and Art Deco by virtue of rapid development in both financial investment in real estate and building technology in Shanghai in 1930s, the design and the construction of the Park Hotel reached the highest level of skyscrapers in the Far East in 1930s. (The building has been listed as Heritage Architecture of Shanghai in 1989.)

Text with kind permission from www.hudec.cn

Union Brewery Ltd, formerly Shanghai Beer Factory, was located at No.130 Yichang Road, which recently, a renewal project, converted the old factory building into a complex with galleries and shops, and Mengqing Garden shops along the Suzhou creek.
The Union Brauerei AG (established in 1911) was run by the German company Schwarzkopf & Co. The brewery produced 2,000 tons yearly (2 million liters) and had 100 employees. The brewery was purchased in 1919 by a Norwegian businessman. Frithjof Gustav Cark Hohnke, who can be credited for making beer popular in Shanghai. Victor Sasson bought most of the shares of the brewery in 1935 and the name was changed to Shanghai Brewery. Hohnke continued as director of the company, and kept his private villa, built by Hudec, in the French Concession, now the chancery of the Belgian Consulate.

The English Jardine Group built a new factory on this site. Designed in October 1931 and completed in May 1933, the factory once boasted being the biggest beer producer in the far-east containing 11,100 square-meters of plot area and 28,800 square-meters of building area.
The main business of the factory was as a Brewery. The process was controlled by mechanization and all the equipment was imported from overseas. To make full use of the land area, the master plan was designed in a horseshoe shape. The main structures included a brewery building, bottling building, garage, office building and electric- power room etc. The bottling building was five-storeys high of reinforced-concrete construction. The south facade which was shaped in a curve had extensive horizontal windows. The north façade, shaped in hackle, had filleted corners. The new factory had more commodious inner-space, on a no-beam floor system which was rarely used. The brewery building was nine-storeys high in a reinforced-concrete structure. A tower on the east façade was built in Art-Deco with similar disposal, for the entrance along Suzhou creek. These two buildings both had dark architraves around the windows and air corridors between them. As a part of the renewal project along Suzhou creek, the factory site, of which none of the original buildings exist, has been changed into an ecological green park named Mengqing Garden in 2005, and also has a brewery.
As one of the two huge industrial factories designed by Hudec, Union Brewery Ltd. successfully integrates Modernism with industrial design. (The Factory site was listed among the Heritage Architectures of Modern History in Shanghai since 1999).

This is perhaps my favourite building on Huai Hai Road. Looks a bit like those houses in Paris, isn’t it? Yeah, it’s French Renaissance style……

The metal gate has a passcode, thus I was not able to enter it. It’s quite beautiful in the evening when lights are on. I’ll take another picture soon and wait at the gate next time to see if I can enter the building

(info from Shanghai Daily Supplement, graciously provided by MRP46)

(info from Shanghai Daily Supplement, graciously provided by MRP46)

It is currently the Writer’s Association. For more information, visit http://www.hudec.cn