By Chen Yi
Lately, the scaffold outside the 116-year-old Jinshan Building has been removed quietly, revealing the true face of British neoclassical architectural style. The green and red clear water brick wall has a unique historical charm, carrying the memory and identity of the old building to the urban context.
The "Gorgeous Turn" of Old Building
Jinshan Building is located at the intersection of Suzhou River and Huangpu River, adjacent to China Securities Museum in the south, facing the Bund historic buildings and Lujiazui across the river. It was once the attached building of the first western hotel "Astor House" (now China Securities Museum) in Shanghai, and also the first building newly built during the demolition, reconstruction and expansion of "Astor House", with a history of about 116 years.
The building is a six-floored brick wood structure. The internal corridor structure is arranged according to the standard guest rooms of the hotel. At present, except for the shops along the street on the ground floor, the rest are residences with more than 200 households. It is decorated with exquisite woodwork and gypsum internally, integrating Victorian style plant decorative elements. It has certain historical, artistic and research value. In 2015, it was enlisted in the fifth batch of excellent historical buildings in Shanghai.
The century-old building have experienced vicissitudes, as the walls, wooden components, gypsum ceiling moldings and other parts were damaged for aging, with some floors inclined. In the first half of 2020, the Hongkou District Housing Authority and Hongfang Group hired professionals to survey on Jinshan Building. After about 8 months of repair, Jinshan Building reappeared its youth.
In the principle of repairing the old building as the original, the repair restored the original appearance of the building as much as possible and retained historical information to the greatest extent. The staff of Shanghai Mingyue Architectural Design Office Co., Ltd., which was responsible for designing the repair scheme, told that through the analysis of historical photos and referring to the posters at that time, it was speculated that the facade below the fifth floor of the building was a red clear water brick wall, and the top floor and roof were made of metal. After the external painting layer was carefully chiseled out, the original brick wall in cyan and red was exposed. The design company immediately revised the scheme and adopted the external wall design that was more in line with the original appearance of the building. Besides, the metal part was replaced and upgraded, and the waterproof and sound insulation layer was added, which not only solved the problems of water leakage and noise, but also restored the function of the old house to be warm in winter and cool in summer. The floors, ceilings, stairs and other parts of public areas were carefully carved upon being carefully compared, to restore their historical charm as much as possible. Professional companies were invited to carry out termite inspection and prevention measures to eliminate hidden dangers endangering building safety.
Viewing from the intersection of Jinshan Road and Daming Road, the V-shape of Jinshan Building and the clean water brick wall with full sense of line attribute the gorgeous turn of the old building. Entering the building, climbing up the steps along the chestnut wood stairs and fondling the exquisite carved handrail with fingers, people will feel the craftsman spirit lasting for a century.
The Racking Brains Improve Details
"The Bund can be reached by crossing a bridge, and the three most famous buildings in Lujiazui are just outside the window. I sit at home to watch the Huangpu River light show in memory of the centenary of the founding of the CPC not long ago." Feng Jie lives on the sixth floor of Jinshan Building. He could not help talking about the unique geographical location of the apartment, but he used "dirty, messy and bad" to describe the corridor in front of his door before the repair.
Jinshan Building was originally a hotel building. After it was renovated into a residential building, there was no kitchen. So the corridor became an open kitchen for residents. The gas stoves of each family were placed on the small tables on both sides of the corridor, which was fairly messy.
On the premise of respecting the wishes of residents, the kitchen space and pipeline layout in the corridor were synchronously transformed in the repair of the building. After consultation with residents, all residents on the sixth floor of the building agreed to implement the overall planning and transformation of the corridor on this floor. On the wall side of the corridor, the construction unit made a new stove and stainless steel sink for each family. The wall would be pasted with white tiles to make the narrow corridor brighter. The original wall protection boards of the corridor were removed protectively during the transformation process and reinstalled after repair, anti-corrosion, ant prevention and fire prevention treatment, so as to preserve the historical style of the corridor to the greatest extent. “The floor in the corridor was also repaired. This one used to be broken, but we could not find it if we did not look carefully", Feng Jie pointed at the floor with his finger.
The staff of the Hongkou District Housing Authority told that the public space of Jinshan Building is very limited because of the large residents’ density. While repairing the historical protection buildings, the transformation of public areas was like a work in a snail shell. It needed a long-term attention to the daily management and protection after the repair and transformation. In the later stage, intelligent monitoring equipment would be installed for the building according to the documents of the Shanghai Municipal Housing Administration Bureau to monitor, analyze, judge and warn the building’s vibration, inclination, and displacement, the building component deformation and the environmental temperature and humidity changes. The relevant data would be connected to the "Unified Management" platform of urban operation, so as to further strengthen the protection and management of the historical building, and improve the efficiency of finding and handling illegal acts.
Historical buildings are the memory of a city. Paying attention to the continuation of the value of old buildings and protecting and cherishing historical relics are important aspects of building a city's soft power. The new Jinshan Building is the epitome of the "embroidered" protection of historical context in Hongkou. It is learnt that Hongkou has completed the repair of about 92,000 square meters of excellent historical buildings, synchronized with the high-standard all-factor upgrading project of the North Bund. In 2021, Hongkou plans to repair about 150,000 square meters of historical-protection buildings, implement the building readability, and make the humanistic Hongkou live through time and space.