The 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs is seen as the spring box of the Art Deco style, from which it spread all over the World. At that time, it was mostly called modern style and evolved in various sub-branch. One of the later one is called “streamline design” in English, or “Style paquebot” (i.e. sealiner style) in French. I recently got an opportunity to visit a very specific paquebot style building in Paris, thanks to Paris Art Deco Society.
Located at 1 Rue Jacques-Callot, in Saint-Germain des Prés, the Callot building was designed by Roger-Henry Expert and completed in 1933. In the same year, Roger-Henry Expert also designed the passenger deck of the SS Normandie steamship, an Art Deco showcase. The Callot building was originally housing the architecture department of the nearby “Ecole des beaux-arts”. It is now one of the campuses of the architecture school ENSA-Paris Malaquais, thus it was an architecture school since conception until today.
It was extremely avant-garde at the time, and probably influenced many of the architecture students who then helped spreading the style all over the World. The ground floor space is an exhibition hall. The best spot of the building is probably the 5th floor offers a fantastic view over many Paris historical buildings.
View from the top floor
The metal structure supporting the glass roof looks quite similar to the structure of the Normandy building over the 1st class deck. Both were designed by the same architect. Tiling similar to the SS Normandie tiling style can also be found in Shanghai, see post “Déjà vu from Paris to Shanghai“.
5th floor of Callot buildingNormandie steamship 1st class deck
Streamline design buildings were also built in Shanghai, the most visible being the former empire Mansion at the corner of Huai Hai lu / 淮海路 (the former Avenue Joffre) and Changshu Lu / 常熟路 (the former Route de Say-Zoong). Up the same street stands another steamship style building, not far from the former location of the “Jardin Français“. Another example was the Lafayette cinema that has recently disappeared (See post “Goodbye to Lafayette Cinema“).
Side of Empire MansionAnother beauty up the street
Long after the end of streamline design in the late 1940s, the style was still popular in Shanghai. Many buildings form 1990s Shanghai still show remains of streamline design, as shown in post “Frankenstein Art Deco“, where the link with the original Callot building is still clearly visible.
The ground floor of the Callot building has an newly refurbished exhibition space that would be just right for a Art Deco exhibition. Hopefully such exhibition will happen soon.
In the 1920s and 30s, the French economic presence in Shanghai was marked by a small group of large, influential companies. They made a major contribution to the development of the French Concession and supported France’s influence in China.
Messageries Maritimes: a vital link with France Founded in 1862, Messageries Maritimes played a key role in transporting goods and passengers between France, Indochina and China. Based on the Bund, it enjoyed a virtual monopoly on the transport of tea and silk to Europe. Great figures such as Étienne Sigaut and Jean Cochet have marked the history of this company, which has also experienced tragedies, such as the sinking of the Georges Philippar in 1932, in which the famous reporter Albert Londres perished. Messageries maritimes helped form the CMA-CGM group, France’s leading shipping company. (For more information on the MM, see post : “2 months in rationnaire”).
Compagnie Française de Tramways et d’Éclairage Électrique: Essential Infrastructure Created in 1906 with the support of the Banque de l’Indochine, this company managed the tramway network and electricity supply for the French Concession. It experienced tensions with local authorities, particularly in the 1920s and 1930s, and had to deal with several strikes. Despite these challenges, it became one of the largest French industrial companies in the Far East. Listed on the Paris stock exchange and regarded as a “Père de famille” stock, it had to cease trading abruptly in the 1950s.
Banque de l’Indochine: a financial pillar in Shanghai Founded in 1875, Banque de l’Indochine quickly established itself as a major player in Shanghai’s commerce and finance. In 1898, it opened a branch in the Jardine Matheson building, offering financial services crucial to the opium, cotton and silk trades. In the 1930s, 93.5% of its profits in Shanghai came from foreign exchange and trading operations. Banque de l’Indochine merged with Banque de Suez to create Banque Indosuez.
The International Savings Society: A French success story in Shanghai Founded in 1912 by René Fano and Jean Beudin, this savings and lottery society expanded rapidly. By 1930, it had 130,000 subscribers and diversified into insurance through Assurance Franco-Asiatique. Personalities such as Étienne Sigaut and Michel Speelman were instrumental in the company’s growth. Faced with major difficulties, ISS disappeared in the 1950s.
The Gascogne apartments built by FONCIM
FONCIM: Shanghai’s architectural heritage A subsidiary of ISS, FONCIM left an indelible architectural mark on Shanghai. Drawing on the talents of renowned architects such as Léonard, Vesseyre and Laszlo Hudec, it contributed to the rapid urbanization of the French Concession, particularly after the 1917 expansion. Financed by ISS profits, FONCIM was one of the main landowners. FONCIM houses and apartments were often leased to other French companies to house their staff. One example is the CFTEE leasing houses from FONCIM.
The Bouvier Empire: a dominant figure in Shanghai Félix Bouvier, an accountant turned influential entrepreneur, left his mark on Shanghai with his investments in Grand Garage Français and Union Mobilière. He was most famous for creating the Champs de Course Français (also called “Le Canidrome”), a betting center for greyhound racing. Nicknamed “the uncrowned king of the French of Shanghai”, he had close ties with Du Yue Cheng, an influential and sulphureous figure in the Chinese business world.
Import-export companies: a flourishing trade Several French companies played a central role in the import-export of a variety of products: Olivier Chine was a major exporter of tea and silk. Racine & Cie, and Egal & Cie dominated the wine and food trade. In 1934, France exported 31,000 liters of champagne, 25,000 liters of bottled wine and 762,000 liters of bulk wine to Shanghai, illustrating the importance of this trade. For more information this topic, see article “French wines in Old Shanghai”.
The former Normandy building, now Wukang da lou / 武康大楼
What remains today? The Messageries Maritimes building still stands on the Bund. Streetcars disappeared from Shanghai in the 70s, but some trolley-bus lines still follow the same route. French companies, especially FONCIM, left their mark on Shanghai’s architecture. Most of the Art Deco buildings in the former French Concession are attributed to them, including Le Gascogne, the Normandie (now called WuKang Da Lou / 武康大楼) and the Cité Bourgogne.
In more than 20 years in Shanghai (and counting), I spent many years in the former French concession but one location in particular remains a clear favorite. This was on Route Kaufmann (today Anting lu / 安亭路), where I spent 10 years. Living at the back a small lane really felt like living in Old Shanghai, and many post of this blog were inspired by the area.
Named after a former Yunnan Postal Service officer who was killed during WW1, Route Kaufmann was a wealthy and eclectic area. It was also very international as confirmed by a friend whose Chinese professor in the US once lived on Route Kaufman before 1949. This was still a fantastic place to live around 2010, and it took a real effort to move out as explained in post “Leaving Route Kaufmann“.
Location of Route Kaufmann 1913 (red dot)
As shown as above map from 1913, this area was the countryside when the French Concession was officially extended in 1914. As Route Kaufmann is on the western side of the French Concession, it was probably divided in plots and occupied from the mid 1920s. This area of the French Concession was divided in blocks that were sold to developers.
French style house on 130 Route Kaufmann, designed by LVK
The FONCIM plot probably also included Route Cohen (Gao An Lu / 高安路), that runs parallel to Route Kaufmann on the Western side. The West side of Route Cohen also counts many buildings developed by FONCIM with design from LVK, mostly apartment buildings.
FONCIM buildings on Route Cohen, designed by LVK
On the East side of route Kaufmann, a large share was sold to Asia Realty Company (ARCO), an American real estate company that flourished in Shanghai at that time. The East side is also the location of the King’s Lynn Apartments where Chester Fritz and Bernardine Szold Fritz, lived for a while. The cadastre shows this plot as property of ARCO, although I have not seen ARCO sign like on Brooklyn Court, another ARCO property.
King’s Lynn apartments
On the East side, ARCO commissioned Hungarian architect Laszlo Hudec to create houses on the plot between Route Kaufmann and Route Dufour (today Wulumuqi Lu /乌鲁木齐南路）, with some on the Eastern side of Route Dufour.
Hudec buildings West of Route Dufour
The list of inhabitants of rue Kaufmann in 1933 shows that many people lived on 9 Rue Kaufmann, which is the above mentioned King’s Lynn apartment. Chester Fritz had already left the building on that year. The Lubeck family, of one of the director of the CFTEE, Carlos Lubeck is also mentioned at number 132. I was also told that Ma Ying-chi / 马英驰, the minister of Justice of Republican China lived in 130 at some point, but in 1933 this was the home of the reverend F. Rawlison.
There is a large gap between #4 and #126. Although the cadastre shows that the land between these number was already divided, many of the buildings on the streets were not built yet. For example, the large Art Deco House located on 46 Anting lu now part of the Anting Villa Hotel, was not built yet. Similarly, on the odd side, nothing much seem to exist besides #9.
Another missing part then was today’s Anting Lu 81, the lane were I used to live in. While living there, I realized that our small lane had its own name on French Concession maps. It was called Rue d’Adina, Route d’Adina, or sometimes “Route privée d’Adina”, Chinese name was 安地那路. This was very unusual for Shanghai street name, so I started to research it. This will be the topic of further posts.
After “Le music-hall des espions“, Bruno Birolli published the second book of the Shanghai suite, “Les terres du mal”. Taking place a few years later than the first book of the series, this episode takes us again in 1930s Shanghai between gangsters and Shanghai inhabitants, both foreign and Chinese.
Book cover, les terres du mal
Main characters René Desfossés comes back, not in the French police anymore, but working for a large company. Archibald Swindon is also back, now in the role of heading the British secret service in Shanghai, mainly looking for communists agents. They find themselves tackling crime again, playing between the International Settlement and the French concession. A new character is introduced with communist agent “Hannah”. The book focuses a lot on movie studios and actress in Old Shanghai, with several characters inspired real characters like star “Lingyu” from Old Shanghai actress Ruan Lingyu / 阮玲玉 and aspiring actress Lan Ping who ends up leaving Shanghai to join communists rebels in Yan’An, inspired by Mao Zedong’s wife Jiang Qing / 江青.
Just like the first one, Birolli’s book includes a lot of details about Old Shanghai proving is in-depth knowledge of the topic. The story is very well documented, with characters inspired by real life people of the time. However, it is less interesting than in the first book, and a little too predictable. It is a fair read for all Shanghai lovers, but may not be so interesting for people unfamiliar with the topic. “Les terres du mal” is published in French only.
After having looked into the Ruan Lingyu movie “Love and duty“, I discovered that the movie was made from a book also called “Love and duty” written first in French by a French-Polish author living in Beijing, and then translated into Chinese. (See post “The story of Horose or Stephanie Rosen-Hoa” for more details). While Horose was mostly living in Beijing, and sometimes Paris, this article focuses on her relationship with Shanghai.
The book “Love and duty“, by Horose or Stéphanie Rosen-Hoa was a bestseller in China. It was first published as a 8 parts series in the literary magazine of Shanghai based Commercial press 小说世界 (The World of novels) in 1921 with 羅琛華 as the author. Commercial Press then published a book version as “恋爱与义务” in 1924, which was a great success. The English version was also published by Commercial Press in 1926 (for more details, see post: “Love & duty, the book“).
During all that time, Stéphanie Rosen-Hoa was living in Beijing with her husband Hua Nangui / 华南圭 who was originally from Wuxi and her two children. Hua Nangui designed and built their house in Beijing in 1914, using a combination of Chinese and Western style.
Picture of Horose in from of her family house in Beijing, curtesy of Catherine Hoa.
Commercial Press was headquartered in Shanghai, so she must have to down South from Beijing to negotiate the publication of her books. At that time, trips from Beijing to Shanghai took either the boat from Tianjin harbour, or the Peking Express. Although there are no real traces from those travels, one can assume that Horose would come to Shanghai once or twice a year.
Below picture is an advertising for Commercial Press books, published in JB Powell’s China Weekly Review on 12th Feb 1927. One can assume that the books listed were the best sellers of Commercial Press at the time. It is amazing to see Love and Duty juste next to Lu Xun’s “The true story of Ah Q”, of which English translation was published in 1927.
Ad in the China Weekly Review – 12th Feb 1927
As mentioned by Kristine Harris in her article : “Ombres Chinoises, split screens and parallel lives in Love and Duty”, “By 1930, the novel had gained broader name recognition among urban audiences, the Commercial Press had already issued three impressions of the English version and four of the Chinese version.” Lou Mingyou, the future director of the movie, read the book and contacted the author. Horose was hired as a consultant for the movie that was released in 1931. During that time, she probably spent much more time in Shanghai, as the movie studio were located in the city. I did not find traces of contacts between Horose and the French community. Probably they were few, with the French community kept away by the language barrier from the Chinese and English literary success that was Love & Duty, as well as lack of interest into “Chinese things” from the French community in general.
The only link with the French Concession that I found is that most of the outdoor sets for the movie Love and Duty where located in the French Concession. They were all located around freshly built properties of the FONCIM (Société Foncière et Immobilière), the real estate subsidiary of the French run International Saving Society, the highly successful life insurance company headquartered in Shanghai. Although it may be random, one can also assume that Horose got somehow in touch with FONCIM management to use those locations and feature them in the movie.
As Horose fame grew in China, she started to give talks that were advertised. A few of them were mentioned in the Shanghai English press. The North China Daily news in the 10th December 1933 edition published a short article mentioning that Horose was in Shanghai on that date, presenting her new book “Double Chains” in Chinese. It also mentions that “she is later to collect material in Nanking for another book. This is expected to be called “Through the Great Wall” and will be published in Paris.” That book was actually published under the name “La muraille de Pékin `a Paris”, in 1929 in Paris.
Double Chains by Horose, Chinese edition
The last article found was published in the China Press, on 2nd June 1936. It mentions the conference given by “Mme Kuai”, further named as “Mme L Rosen-Hoa Nan Kuai” to the WCTU (Women Christian Temperance Union). Horose is introduced as “the author of He & She, Double Chains, Love & duty and book of essays. Her husband who is an engineer translates them into Chinese.”
Horose went back to France in 1937 and only came back to China in 1966, before passing away in Beijing in 1970. For more details about her life, please go to post “The Story of Horose, or S. Rosen-Hoa“.
Route Paul Henry (today xinle lu / 新乐路) is a small but central street of the former French Concession. This part of the city was very much linked to Gangster Du Yue Shen (杜月笙) empire. His residence was built in 1934 at the beginning of the street and his today the Dong Hu hotel. Crime was definitely part of the life on Route Paul Henry then.
Du Yue Shen residence, today Dong Hu hotel
Further down the street on #82 at the corner with Route L Lorton (Xiang Yang Bei Lu / 襄阳北路) , another elegant building was also related to Du Yu Shen, the seat of the 3 fortunes company (三鑫公司). Started in 1925, the company was the association of three major gangsters of Shanghai, members of the Green Gang: Due Yue Shen/ 杜月笙, Huang Jinrong / 黄金荣 and Zhang Xiaolin / 张啸林. Prostitution, games, opium sales and other forms of gangsterism were its main source of revenue, making the three partners extremely wealthy. Crime paid very well then.
Former seat of the 3 fortunes company
The building style is a modernized version of beaux-arts, with Chinese features. The official website of the hotel claims that original architect was “famous French designer Rafael”, but I have not encountered this name before. Many features are similar with Du Yue Shen house up the street, so it is possible the same architect did both buildings.
Inside the Mansion Hotel (picture from the hotel website)
Around 2007, this beautiful building was turned into a hotel inspired by Shanghai history. The owner curated more than 300 old Shanghai artefacts, buying some from my antic dealers friends. It even features pictures from the actual Du Yue Sheng family. This became one of the most luxurious hotel of Shanghai, making one feel like a trip to old Shanghai just by getting into it. The renovation and decor was fantastic, and although it was probably mostly reconstructed, it just felt like the real thing.
Lot’s of antics were used to create the decor (picture from the hotel website).
The former owner who ordered this wonderful work died a few years ago. The hotel seems to have been closed for a while. Suddenly, construction started on the site in the late spring of this year (2024). I was fearing the worst and the worst came.
The outside has been pleasantly renovated, with an opening to the street that is making the beauty of the building visible. However, the inside has been totally gutted in this terrible ruinovation. Nothing of the former charm remains, just bare walls that could be in any shopping mall. I nearly fainted when I saw the result. Considering the quality of the previous renovation, this is not far from being a crime to Shanghai history. Old Shanghai lost one of its best place in this incredible move and no municipal protection came to the rescue… at least the building itself survives. Farewell to beautiful mansion hotel, welcome to another fashion store.
Unfortunately, ruinovation or destruction of some of the last bits of Old Shanghai seems to be on the rise. Destruction signs in the former Concessions have started to appear again without any consideration for historic heritage A street further up, the corner of Changle lu and Xiang Yang Lu is already walled up and waiting for destruction. One street further on Julu lu, another small part is also made ready to go.
After a number of years of renovation, the campus of the Shanghai musical conservatory is now open to the public again. Includes several Old Shanghai building that have been renovated.
The most iconic part of the new project is surely “The German building”. This house in Bavarian style had been hiding in plain sight for years, as its main facade was covered by a more modern building for a long time. After renovation, it is now visible from Huai Hai Lu and attracts a lot of attention.
From the outside, it is clear that a lot of care has been put into the renovation. This massive house of German / Bavarian style wasbuilt for a German merchant between 1905 and 1911. It was designed by German architect firm Becker & Baedecker, that also built the former German club on the Bund. At that time, the road was called Rue Paul Brunat and this part was outside the French Concession area. It was formally included under the French jurisdiction after the extension of the French Concession in July 1914.
The back of the house includes a beautiful covered terrasse, also very well restored. An information plate mention that it was the seat of the Belgian consulate, but research shows it was a different building in the same area (see below).
Getting further into the park, one will encounter the former Shanghai Jewish Club, the main building of the modern Shanghai musical conservatory until a few years ago. Having been expended over the years, it is still used although it is now less visible compared to the newly opened buildings. This building is from 1932, with some art deco elements, much later than the “German building”. It’s interior has renovated many times and has little of the original. The location is close to the compound entrance on Feng Yang lu (former Route Pichon).
Former Shanghai Jewish Club
Hidden in the back of the compound is another building that was the biggest surprise as I had not spotted it before as it is hidden in the trees.
Art Nouveau Building in Shanghai
Its Art Nouveau designs looks very much like Vienna style, which is very rare in China. The only other building in that style I saw was in Wuhan. Along with the rest of the compound, the building has also been recently renovated. The inside is still not open to the public. This building is mentioned in an article from 1919, stating it had already been built by Mr Gerecke for a number of years by then so it was probably built around the same time as the German house.
Mr Emil Gerecke (1862-1933) was an employee of the Deutsche-Asiatische Bank (Bank Germano-Asiatic) in the 1890s, and then made his own company. The 1909 China Directory lists E. Gerecke as a bills broker located Route Pichon, and the Shanghai Club. The firm Gerecke & Sierich, Exchange brokers is also located at this address. He was repatriated to Germany in 1919, and came back to Shanghai in 1924.
The house was sold in 1917 and was turned into Dr J B Fearn Blue bird Sanitorium, a modern healthcare facility. It was named after 1908 Maurice Maeterlink’s play “L’oiseau bleu” (or blue bird in English), that was turned into a famous movie around that that time. The Blue bird Sanitorium lasted until 1926.
Blue Bird Sanitorium around 1920
From that point, the house was used as the Belgium Consulate in Shanghai. It is indicated on this 1935 map of the French Concession at 30 Route Pichon. The German house does not appear on the map, so it was not an official building then.
Position of Consulate General of Belgium
The footprint of the existing campus has also been greatly expended, now enclosing neighbouring plots that where previously off limit. This part, including the former Ezra mansion will be introduced in a further post.
I have always been fascinated by mail and posts. Before internet took off, I used to write many paper letters to my parents and friends, including on special super light paper for faster “air mails”. I wrote a post about a letter from old Shanghai French municipality a few years ago, this time I got an actual letter from the Shanghai French Consulate.
This envelop sender was the “Consulat Général de France à Changhai”, i.e. Shanghai French Consulate located on the French Bund, as explained in post “Shanghai former French Consulate“. This kind of document is very rare nowadays. It was sent to France, “Via Sibérie”, meaning it was carried by train to Beijing, then on the Transmanchurian railway to Moscow through Dalian and then further on to Paris. I guess that in 1938, the Japanese occupiers of China were “securing” trains on the line. Alternatively, maybe the mail was sent by ship to Dalian, before being boarded on the train as Manchuria was fully controlled by the Japanese since the Mukhden incident in 1931 and the following invasion of Manchuria by the Japanese army. There were ever only a few flights to Shanghai from abroad, and in 1938 they were surely none apart from maybe Japan. Shanghai was in the lone island period, with the French Concession and the International Settlement being surrounded by Japanese occupation.
The envelop postmark shows 22-07-38 / 19. I assume that it’s 22nd July 1938, at 19:00. Just like on the 1936 letter from the French municipality, Shanghai is written both in English and Chinese (from right to left as was the fashion of the time), although a different stamp was used. It was stamped with five 5 dollars stamps, this being a lighter letter than the French municipality letter that required two 25 stamps and was probably heavier. Currency was the Chinese Dollars. Although it’s pretty difficult to convert to today’s money, it was probably not cheap.
It though the French Consul General at the time was Marcel Baudez, reading that he was Consul General from 1936 to 1939. However, Paul French’s China rhyming blog mentioned that he was Consul General from January 1935 to February 1938 and then from November 1938 to April 1940, thus being out of the post at the time when this mail was sent. In any case I do not think that this letter was an official letter from the Consulate. There was not was seal on the back of the letter and he did not go through diplomatic post. As it was send to France by the normal post, it was not an important or confidential official document.
Adomenil Castle
The peculiar address also attracted by attention as it indicates “Adomenil, par Lunéville”. It turns out that Adomenil is a castle, located in the area of Lunéville, a small town in North-East France. The castle was the property of the “de Ravinel” family, a French nobel family starting from the middle of the 15th century. It has been turned into a luxury hotel after the family sold it in 1978.
Baron Charles de Ravinel (1839-1905), the heir of French nobel family from the 16th century was a French politician in the late 19th century. He was also an administrator of famous companies from the area, including the Faiencerie de Lunéville (Lunéville Chinaware company), the Cristallerie de Saint-Louis (Saint-Louis Crystal factory) and Vittel Spring water, that all still exist today.
Insigna of the de Ravinel family
Baron Charles son was Baron André de Ravinel (1868 1942), who had several children including a daughter called Marie-Françoise de Ravinel born on 6th January 1904 in Lunéville and deceased 20th January 1988 in the same city. She is probably Mlle M. F. de Ravinel, to whom this letter was sent. In 1936, she was 32 years old and was probably unmarried as being named “Mademoiselle”, the then title for unmarried woman in France. From what I could find, she never got married.
Parc de Ravinel (Source Virtual Shanghai)
Today’s Xiangyang park on HuaiHai Zhong Lu, used to called the parc de Ravinel on Avenue Joffre. This particular plot was earmarked to become the location of the new Municipality of the French Concession, designed by Leonard & Vesseyre. The planned building was never built, so a park was created on this plot in 1942. It was named “Square Yves de Ravinel”, after a young employee of the French Consulate who was born in 1911 and based in the Shanghai from 1938 to 1939. He died during WW2 fights in France in 1940 and was remembered in Shanghai through this park. A plate showing his name was also installed then. Yves de Ravinel was the youngest sibling of Marie-Françoise de Ravinel.
So this letter was probably a personal letter from Yves de Ravinel to his older sister, using stationary from the French Consulate. At the time of writing, the Shanghai French Concession and international settlement were pretty lonely, being surrounded by the Japanese army and both areas were overcrowded with refugees. Unfortunately, the letter did not come with this envelop but it certainly mentioned it.
The building on 143 Route des Soeurs (143 Rui Jin Yi lu) has often attracted my interest. I wrote an original post about it in 2008 (See post Brooklyn Court, Routes des Soeurs for more details). The whole area has been under reconstruction for a long time, so I went to have a look again recently, taking pictures of the inside of the building.
Using every single inch
The lilong at the corner of Avenue Joffre and Route des Soeurs (today Huaihai Zhong Lu and Shaanxi bei lu) has been destroyed a number of years ago, as a metro station was built on part of it. New construction in the area has now started and no concession has been left to the history of the area, nor to aesthetic. The surrounding building kind of wraps around half of Brooklyn Court, making sure that every square inch available is used fully. The result is weird and frankly not very nice and will drastically reduce the light coming into the appartements overlooking the back side.
Backside of Brooklyn Court
I also managed to get into Brooklyn Court, hunting for more architectural details than in my first visit. Brooklyn Court was first announced in 1931, as part of the Asia Realty (also known as ARCO) redevelopment of the lot with the adjacent Luck Terrace (now demolished, unfortunately). This was an apartment building “of a medium class”, costing 370,000 taels to build. By 1934 it is finished and occupied. The outside of the building is not particularly sophisticated.
While entering in the building, one of the first sight is the large cross-shaped light wells. It is very disctinctive, while bringing a lot of light to this dark passage. Their shape is so specific that they can be seen from the sky like on below picture (right picture by Matthias Guillin).
Although Brooklyn Court was only “of medium class”, it is clearly marked by his time with inside decoration. Art Deco was the style of the time, and it really shows in the iron work for windows and doors which are really unique in Shanghai.
Art Deco doorBeautiful staircaseArt Deco window frames
ARCO’s architects at the time of construction (1931 – 1933) were listed as J. A. Hammerschmidt & F. Schäffer. – Josef Alois Hammerschmidt was an Austria architect born in Vienna in 1891. He studied at the Technische Hochschule in Vienna, was captured during WW1 and sent to Siberia. After the war, he worked in Tianjin, part of the time with Rolf Geyling, reaching Shanghai in 1931. – Férenc Schäffer was a Hungarian architect, trained in Budapest and also taken to Siberia as a war prisonner. He reached Shanghai in 1920, were in probably first work with Lászlo Hudec in the office of American architect Rowland A Curry. During his time in Siberia, he met a fellow Hungarian, Sandor Hugo who later became ARCO’s General Manager including at the time of construction of Brooklyn Court.
This is probably through this Austro-Hungarian connection that Hammerschmidt was brought to ARCO in 1931. A few years early, ARCO already headed by Sandor Hugo had hired Lászlo Hudec’s new firm for a development project in 1925-26. The little communitee of Hungarian architects in Shanghai also included art deco star Karoly Gonda (designer of the Cathay Cinema among many others), Béla Mátrai and Janos Komor who designed the Lester Institute in Hongkou district.
French movie “The crime is mine” is inspired by a play from the 1930s. Director Francois Ozon have turned into a movie that has many references to French cinema past and present, including many actors that are famous in France. This will probably be lost to the non French viewer. What is stunning for the 1930s and Art Deco fan are the fantastic decors and costumes.
1930s locations around Paris and further have been used, including the below bridge that is located in Bagneux, a few kilometers from Paris.
Le pont des Suisses in Bagneux
The story is focused on two ladies, one of which being accused of killing a major film producer, and the other one being her lawyer. The crime is taking place in the luxurious villa of the producer, which is actually the fabulous Villa Empain in Brussels.
The villa Empain in Brussels
Costumes were carefully modeled after the 1930s fashion, creating a real visual univers for the movie. This helps to imagine how life in part of the former French Concession looked like.
Great 1930s costumes
The whole movie has a light atmosphere. Many people seem to like it, although I tend to prefer a noir atmosphere for movied taking place in this period, just like TV series Babylon Berlin taking place in the 1930s. In any case, The crime is mine will delight Art Deco et 1930s fan.
