Art Deco Archives - Shanghailander

More on the Bibliotheque Sino-Internationale

In previous post “393 Route Ferguson“, I shared the rediscovery of the Shanghai branch of the Bibliothèque Sino-Internationale, established by Li Shizeng in 1934, after opening the Geneva branch in 1933. More information has come up since the first post.

The BSI only operated from 1934 until 1937, during a similar period at the nearby Hung Ying library on Avenue Joffre. After the Japanese invasion of Shanghai, it seemed to have closed. Books were transfered to the nearby World School that belonged to the same group as the BSI. As the BSI was clearly linked with the Republican government, this is not surprising that the library closed after the government defeat in the battle of Shanghai. Interestingly, the Hezhong library was created, a few streets away, was created a few years later, seeking the protection of the French Concession.

I managed to find an original book that belonged to the library. “Oeuvres complètes de Ronsard, texte de 1578, librairie Garnier frères 1923” has a nice ex libris with the actual logo of the BSI. It is clearly marked as belonging to Shanghai branch of the 中国国际图书馆.

I also found some inside picture of the inside of main library building, that is now the Wu kang lu tourist information center. Below picture was the main reading room as mentioned in the caption. It was dedicated to foreign books.

This area is now the main room of the tourist information center. The balcony existed then, but only over the main entrance. I has been extended during renovation to go around the whole area. The art deco styled buttress are visible on both pictures right. They are detailed in the close-up picture below. Both old pictures were taken from the stage.

At the other end of the triangular room was the stage. It has totally disappeared, the shop now occupies the same area. The Art Deco styled decoration is following the fashion of the time. The location can be assessed by comparing windows in the above picture with both pictures below.

The 中国国际图书馆 or Sino-international library was not the first attempt by Li Shizeng to promote link between China and France, as well as improve the education system in China.

During his studies in France, in 1906-1907, Li Shizeng (under his original name Li Yuying) was one of the founders of the 世界社 / Che Kiai Che / “Association de cooperation internationale pour le développement intellectuel, economique et social” along with Cai Yuan Pei / 蔡元培. Founders also included fellow Chinese student in France Zhang Renjie / 張人傑 as well as Wu Zihui / 吳敬恆 (the inventor of sound based writing style Zhuyin Fuhao, also called Bopomofo, that is still used in Taiwan to learn Chinese). The 世界社 / Che Kiai Che was the owner of the plot and it seems to have used the space for exhibition for some time before some renovation to instal the BSI reading room.

Stephanie Rosen-Hoa and Hua Nangui were friends with Li Shizeng. He included a copy of the movie “Love and duty” in the Geneva collection. Cai Yuanpei wrote the foreword to the serialised version of Love & duty in 1921, his fame at the time surely helping the book’s chances of publication. Connections made during students time prove very valuable later on.

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Hezhong Library

I have passed hundreds of times in front of the building at 746 Changle lu, at the corner of Rue Bourgeat (now Changle lu) and Rue Amiral Courbet (now Fumin Lu). Although an old building, it is quite large with a modernistic style, occupying a large plot at the streets corner. Here is its story.

This remarkable modernist / art deco building was built for the Hezhong library / Hou Chung library / 合众图书馆. The library was created in 1939, by industrialist Ye Jingkui, together with Zhang Yuanji and Chen Taoyi. Ye Jingkui was a great collector of books and he wanted to pool private collections in a safe place. At that time, Shanghai was already occupied by Japan, apart for the International Settlement and the French Concession. The massive collection of Shanghai’s Oriental library had been destroyed along with the Commercial Press building in 1932. The group wanted to preserve Chinese culture and historical book collections. It is then no surprise that the library was built in the French Concession, a place that was safe at the time.

Besides the founder’s collections, the library acquired rare books as well as manuscripts, correspondence, inscriptions and rubbings, periodicals, photographs and made them available for researchers. At that time, libraries were the real receptacle for knowledge and were highly treasured. Other exemples of important libraries in Shanghai included the Shanghai branch of the Sino-International library, the Hung Ying library, the Royal Asiatic Society Library and Jesuits library in Xu Jia Hui. In 1958, the Hezhong library’s collection was merged into Shanghai library, probably along with the above mentionned.

The library building dates from 1940. It takes elements of Chinese traditional symbols with modern western architectural structure. As it is higher than the neighbors and located in a street corner, it really stands out.

It was designed by Chinese architect Chen Zhi / 陈植, who was born in Hangzhou. He first studied in Tsing Hua university in Beijing, before being sent to the USA to study architecture at Pennsylvania University in 1923. He completed his study in 1928, after winning an architectural competition in 1926. He worked one year in Ely J.Kahn architect firm in New York, which is famous for some the New York skyscrapers.

Chen Zhi returned to China in 1929, reaching Shanghai in 1930. He then founded Allied Architects / Huagai Architects / 华盖建筑师事务所 along with other fellows from Tsinghua / Penn State University, Zhao Shen and Tong Jun. Together, they designed several famous buildings, including the Metropol Theater, the lyric theater (now Huangpu Theatre, 黄浦剧场), Zhong Shan hospital and several official buildings in Nanjing.

The building has been renovated in 2025, while keeping an original feel. It is free to visit and also enclose a small museum about the original Hezhong library. Too bad it is only in Chinese.

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Elisabeth appartements, route Lafayette

The end of Fuxing Zhong lu, the former Rue Lafayette of the French Concession of Shanghai was a pretty upscale area in Old Shanghai. It is even mentionned in movie “Love and Duty” as the place of living of local wealthy residents.

There are a number of old luxury apartement buildings in the area. I recently managed to sneak into one of them that is usually closed: Elisabeth Apartements on 1327 Route Lafayette (today Fuxing Zhong lu / 复兴中路).

Elisabeth Apartments, 1327 Route Lafayette – Picture Jad Arsan

I had noticed this building since a long time thanks to its unusual shape. It has recently been repainted, giving it a much better look. Built in 1939, Elisabeht Apartments is clearly modernist or late art deco style. It is very distinctive with an angular shape dividing the façade, and round shapes on both sides.Those must be stair cases that point out of the main structure.

Windows of the round structure are forming columns with decoration between the openings.

The building side on Route Lafayette is the main façade, facing North. The other side facing south is much less decorated. It is still noticeable with it corner Crittal-style windows.

I was really lucky as the entrance door was open, so I sneaked in. The inside of the building has been well kept, along the years. It has probably been renovated at some point, but does not seem to have been altered much. The staircase is late art-deco like the outside.

The angled shaped window in the corridor is even more amazing from the inside. The steel frame is also a great exemple of Crittal-style window, that are quite common in Shanghai old buildings.

Original doors have been kept, for most appartements, with flat numbers having a special frame.

I managed to reach the fantastic terrace overlooking the city, with its art deco chimneys… before being chased away by an old guy that was really not happy to find me in his space.

Although Elisabeth apartments has been featured in the number of books, it is less know that its famous neighboor, Blackstone Apartments. Searching the internet, I found that Elisabeth appartements was designed by Russian architect Wladimir Livin-Goldenstaedt (1878–1965). Although much less well known that Laszlo Hudec, Leonard & Vesseyre and Palmer & Turner, he contributed to many art deco buildings in the French Concession. More information about him and his work can be found following this link to Katya Knyazeva’s project : https://sites.google.com/view/russianshanghai/architects/a-l/w-f-livin-goldenstaedt

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393 Route Ferguson

The house located on 393 Route Ferguson, today 393 Wukang lu, is often featured as an example of Shanghai Art Deco. Although I passed by it many times, I only recently discovered its amazing history.

This specific address came up in previous post “How did Love and duty come to Uruguay?“. It was the Shanghai branch of the Geneva based “Bibliothèque Sino-International” (BSI) created in Geneva in 1932 by Li Shizeng / 李石曾. This Sino- International library aimed at display and share Chinese culture to the World and in particular to Europe. It had a Shanghai branch, located 393 Fergusson lane, a property bought by Li Shizeng at the end of the 1920s. Its goal was to put Chinese people in touch with foreign culture by making foreign books available to the Chinese public.

Libraries were the great cultural tool at the time, long before the internet. Several other libraries in Shanghai had a similar mission, like the Yong Yin Library a few hundreds meters from the BSI. Other examples include the Hezhong Library, and the library of the Royal Asiatic Society.

Located a few steps behind the Normandy building (called nowadays 武康大楼), 393 Wukang lu is a long and the building with 2 different parts. It was constructed in 1933. The flat part now hosts the Wukang lu tourist information center. Entrance to this part is on the left side of the building and was the entrance to the BSI.

Thanks to researcher Xavier Bouvier, the location is confirmed by below picture from an original brochure from 1934 about the BSI both Geneva and Shanghai branch, that he shared with me.

Trees have grown since then, but the view is quite similar. The right part of the building is an apartment building.

The BSI in Geneva contained 200.000 books in Chinese. The Shanghai branch of the BSI contained about 50.000 books in mostly French and German. About 2000 of them originated from a donation of the “Club Diderot”, led by Alexandra Roubé-Jansky. She travelled to several times China between 1932 and and 1935 before spending some time as Shanghai correspondant for French daily Paris Soir in 1936.

The inside of the building included a number of reading rooms, as well as storage rooms for books. The inside of the building has been remodeled and is now the Wukang Lu Tourist center. As the space is now fully open, it clearly shows that the building of the BSI is of triangular shape. Originaly, the space was devided in several rooms. As shown on picture below, the number 1 reading room of the Shanghai branch had high up windows facing the street. This must have been on the right-hand side when coming into the library.

Another picture shows rows of books, in the library. Clearly 50.000 books needed quite a lot of space for storage.

The apartment building on the right side of the building has a separate entrance from the BSI. Its façade is noticable with its high entrance and narrow windows.

Interior shows a spiralling staircase with wrought iron art deco guardrail. The narrow windows are very specific to this building.

Thanks to Shanghai journalist Michele Qiao, we know that the architect of the building was Li Zongkan / 李宗侃 (1901-1972), who studied at Ecole Speciale d’architecture in Paris. He was the nephew of Li Shizeng. Li Zongkan also supervised the construction of the Nanjing Great Hall of the people, the former National assembly building of the Republic of China built in 1936.

Li Shizeng was a connection of Hua Nangui and Stephanie Rosen-Hoa from their time in Paris. It is safe to assume that Stephanie Rosen-Hoa came to his house during her regular trips to Shanghai, particularly in 1930-31 when making the movie version of Love and duty. She probably also visited the BSI new building after completion.

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Shanghai Qipao exhibition

This major exhibition at the Shanghai museum has been on since late last year. I was lucky enough to finally see it on its last day, on 5th May 2026.

Qipao is the iconic Old Shanghai dress called Qipao / 旗袍 in Mandarin or Cheongsam in Cantonese. An early 20th century dress inspired by traditional Chinese robes, it has become the symbol of the Chinese women dress.

Qipao was worn by 1930s movies stars like Ruan Lingyu. It is also a major point of 1990s Hong Kong movie “In the move for love“. One of the most beautiful qipao picture was taken by Sam Sanzetti in Shanghai in the 1930s. A red qipao is also the center piece of Shanghai based inspector Chen’s novel, Red Mandarin Dress.

A number of rare qipaos were already on display amongst many Old Shanghai items at the 2024 “Resonance Art Deco Paris-Shanghai” exhibition . This Qipao exhibition was solely focused on Qipaos, showing a vast range of pieces and the evolution of the dress from the 1910s until today.

Qiapo disappeared from mainland China in the 1950s, but florished in Hong Kong, Taiwan and other locations. It was brought back to Shanghai in the 90s and has seen a return in fashion from the mid 2010s.

The exhibition included many pieces that were rarely seen before. It also gave background information on the period, through pictures and magazine covers.

It was a great exhibition with no chance for an extension as the Shanghai Museum is now closed for renovation.

This kind of large scale exhibition are a great way to promote Shanghai culture and make Shanghai history more known to the general public. Hopefuly more will come.

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Union Brewery building

A recent trip to Shanghai Ecological park along the Suzhou Creek was the opportunity to go and revisit the former Union Brewery factory, a Hudec building that has mostly been forgotten.

Union Brewery / 友啤 started as German owned company in the late 19th century. It then became a Scandinavian owned company. By 1931, it was purchased by investors including ED Sassoon & Co, owner of the Cathay Hotel (today peace Hotel) and Calbeck Mc Gregor, which imported Lanson Champagne to China. A new factory was commissioned in 1935, design was given to Laszlo Hudec. It was completed in 1936.

The 28.800 sqm area also included a large streamline design building. The right part with the angle is very typical of streamline design, echoing Paris Callot building completed in 1933 (see post Paris streamline building).

Comparing the 1937 British map and today satellite, it is clear that the area was surrounded by factories, in particular cotton mills. All those factories were using the river water and dumping used water in it. The Suzhou creek was not as clean and nice as today and sometimes had weird color due to textile dying process in the factories on its sides.

Above sketch shows that only a few buildings remain. The pond on above photos is probably where the main building once stood.

The above add gives a sense on how the beer factory looked inside. Surely very modern and efficient at the time of construction. It had the production capacity for 1 m crates of beer / year, and claimed to be the largest in Asia.

Union Brewery was one of the leading beer brand in Shanghai, along with its competitor Ewoo beer, owned by Jardien & Matheson (Ewoo / 怡和 in Chinese). One of the large company of Shanghai, Union Brewery was listed on the stock exchange. It made both pilsener and brown beer. Beer was advertised as “good for health for young and old”. It was a modern and fashionable drink.

In the 2000’s, the former United Brewery building became the (now long gone) entertainment complex Pier One, with restaurant Mimosa, bar Monsoon and night club Minx. It appears to be currently unused. It is located at 130 Yichang Road / 宜昌路130号 in Putuo district.

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1925-2025 One hundred years of Art Deco

1925 was the year of the “exposition internationale des arts décoratifs”, showcasing the style that was later named as “Art Deco”. The exhibition lasted from 28th April 1925 until end October 1925. The 100 years anniversary is the opportunities for many events and exhibition to Art Deco all over the World.

The center of the action is obviously Paris, where many exhibitions and events take place. In October, the World Congress on Art Deco in Paris was organized by my friends at Paris Art Deco society. The main official exhibition is at Museum of decorative art in Paris. Named “1925-2025 One hundred years of Art Deco”, it is located in the same location that hosted the “Spirit of Bauhaus” exhibition in 2016-2017, an artistic movement closed related to Art Deco.

The exhibition mostly focuses on Art Deco for interior decoration, starting with posters of the 1925 exhibition.

Many items are shown including furniture, tapestry and glassware from the collections of the Museum.

A large part of the exhibition is focused the “French Embassy” project, that was showcased at the 1925 exhibition.

Dressing tables and fans like in below picture are also often in Shanghai Art Deco.

It also included printed textiles and a copy of the bear statue of François Pompon, a famous sculptor from Dijon.

The exhibition also includes clothings, somehow echoing the Resonance Art Deco Paris Shanghai 2024 exhibition.

This is a great exhibition for all Art Deco lovers. Parallels with Shanghai Art Deco are very visible during the visit. This a great window into a style that would soon spread to the rest of the World, and strongly influence Shanghai.

The exhibition will be shown until 26th April 2026. The same location also hosts an exhibition about the Orient Express train from the same period and style.

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Hungarian Architects in Shanghai

Having lived a number of years in Budapest before moving to Shanghai, I have always felt a special connection with the city. One of my interest in Old Shanghai has thus been Hungarian architects in Old Shanghai, in particular Lazlo Hudec.

A number of exhibition about Laszlo Hudec have taken place in Shanghai since the 2008 Year of Hudec in China that really helped rediscovering his heritage in Shanghai and then in Hungary. Laszlo Hudec story and work was totally unkown in Hungary when I lived there, but I have noticed more and more people in know about him nowadays.

Thanks to the continuous work of Virag Csejdy, founder of the Hudec Cultural foundation in Budapest (https://www.hudecproject.com ) and thanks the Hungarian-Chinese friendship association, a major exhibition about Hungarian architects in Shanghai is now taking place in Budapest. This will surely help to raise the profile of those Hungarian architects that found fame in Shanghai.

“Timeless Modernity — The Shanghai Legacy of Hungarian Architects” opened on 1st December 2025 and will last until 22nd January 2026. It focuses on the work and legacy of Laszlo Hudec but also Károly Gonda, Béla Mátrai & Rudolf Sömjén.

The exhibition is taking place in the China Cultural Center in Budapest:
Bosnyák utca 1
H-1149 Budapest

Unfortunately, I could not fit a trip to Budapest in my schedule during that time, but there are talks of taking the exhibition to Shanghai in 2026. I hope I will be able to see it then. In any case, this is a great excuse for a short stay in Budapest for old Shanghai lovers.

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Short visit in Swatow

Shantou / 汕头 in Guangdong province is famous for its food and seaside. It is also the location of Swatow former concession. This was the opportunity for a short trip.

Although located half way between 1842 original concessions of Hong Kong et and Xiamen, Swatow was only opened as a treaty port in 1860 with the treaty of Tianjin. British and American consulate opened on Mayu island of the cost in 1860. The British Consulate later moved to Queshi, on the other side of the river to Swatow city. The American Consulate moved to Kia Lat area, on Tai-Malo street (today 外马路) area. Other consulates opened in the same area including Japanese, German, Norwegian and French, along with a Astor House hotel. At the time, the road was close to the river, but land has been reclaimed here since and the area has changed a lot.

Large trading houses were located further West, around the most densely populated area. They included usuals Butterfield & Swire, and Jardine & Matheson as well as China Merchants. Banks such as HSBC and Bank of China were also located close to the keyside.

Although most of the sea side buildings have disappeared, the road going from the riverside inland has some interesting spots, starting with the Customs house on the riverside, that is now a museum. Hidden in the same area are the former customs quarter, but they are off limit for visitors. Further up is the Post Office that is still in use as its original function.

Going further up, one encounters the beautiful Art Deco Bank of Guangdong building built in 1935 by Guangzhou architect Yang Xizong 杨锡宗.

Further up is the beautiful guan yin miao 观音庙 temple and the old fire station with the hospital opposite to it (this is still the site of today’s Shantou hospital).

Further up on the road was the Consulate area. A French consulate official was dispatched in 1904 and the actual consulate opened in 1906. The building indicated on the 1924 map was built in 1923, located 11 Da Hua Road. Unfortunately, this building does not exist anymore.

Swatow did not have much trade with French companies, and France did not consider Swatow to be an important posting. Consular representative changed very frequently and often complained of the lack of activity. Looking into the foreign population of Swatow in 1933, I only found a few French people. Apart from PC Leblanc who was running the post office, and Jules Leurquin who was the French Consul, the only other French people were missionnaries.

This post focused on Tai-Malo street (today 外马路) were foreign consulates were located. Further posts will focus on Swatow old town and its beautiful architecture.

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The wild side of GuLangYu

For this 9th trip to the beautiful island of Kulangsu (today GuLangYu), we chose to use the ferry to the west side of the island. The Gulangyu Neicuo’ao Wharf (鼓浪屿内厝澳码头) is located where the Foo kien Tanning Co factory used to be. This side of the Island is away from the port of Xiamen and could only accessed on land via the long costal road in the 1930s. As a consequence, it was more secluded and old villas are rarer that on the other side. This whole area is now covered with parks and modern hotels. This makes it a nice place to disembark, but lacks the real Gulangyu feeling. However, one does not have to look too far to find nice surprises.

Behind some more modern constructions, stands one of the rare neo-Confucian style building on Gulangyu. The style is a combination of modernity and traditions. Bottom floors are modern but the top floors and roof look like traditional Chinese buildings. This style was popular in Xiamen in the 1920s and 30s coming with the influence and money from South East Asia. One classical example is the famous Xiamen University, along with the Xiamen Overseas Chinese Museum.

This villa was clearly the private estate of a wealthy South East Asian family. At the time of construction, it was probably far away from other houses. From the style I guess it’s from the early 1930s. The top floor is of traditional Fujian style, while the bottom is much more modern. On Gulangyu, the only other one I know is 海天堂, Hi heaven, the largest old villa complex on the island.

The Sino-American School of Gulangyu was located a little further on the same beach road. It was run by missionaries and associated with the Seventh-days Adventists. From the map, I believe the school building is still there (see below), although it has long stopped been a school. It’s mix of modern and classic western is totally different from the house above.

Former Gulangyu Sino-American School building

Our hotel was once again located in a renovated old villa. Overlooking both the West and East side, it was a large park on the top of hill. The main building is mentioned as being from the 1920s, but the style is more like late30s. The entrance on the small street under the tree shade is really enjoyable.

View from the top of the main building clearly shows this must have been a really secluded place in the past, all buildings looking down are modern. In the old time, this could have been forest or even agricultural fields. The location is clearly on a high point of the island as the view goes all over to Xiamen port far away. There is only one house upper in the street.

As the East side is much steeper, no modern building seem to have been added. This side seems abandoned, giving a good feeling of how it used to be when only few old houses stood here. A mysterious old and uninhabited villa stand among the lush trees. This side really feels like far away from the World, a great place to relax and imagine how quite and secluded this side of GuLangYu was before tourists came over.

Although the island has now become a main tourist attraction, there are still spots away from the crowd on this wild side of Gulangyu, while being only a few steps away from the more famous spots.

For more posts about Gulangyu Island, please click here.

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