Painted in red, yellow, green, blue and other colors, the four tiles are spliced together into a circular pattern, and a tyrannosaur flower is in the middle, which is very gorgeous and exquisite. Outside the north gate of the Temple of Heaven Park, on the south side of Xixiaoshi Street, there is a two-story gray brick small Western-style building, which has a history of 100 years. This is where the former Tongxing and woodware shops were. Lifting the temporary protective partitions on the ground of the first floor of the atrium, the painted cement tiles jump into view. "We have seen such tiles in the Wenhua Hall of the Forbidden City, almost exactly the same!" Ni Yue, a designer at the Architectural Design and Research Institute of Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, said.
Recently, Dongcheng District launched a protective repair project for Tongxing and Wood Shops. During the preliminary investigation, the staff found the same cement tiles of the Forbidden City.
The Forbidden City Mandarin Hall tiles
Tongxing and woodware shop atrium tiles
Tongxing and woodware shop sit south facing north, the height of the building is about ten meters, the left, center and right architectural form, door and window shape, etc. are basically the same, the words "Tongxinghe" and "antiques" on the plaque are generally recognizable, and the brick carvings on the front top are neat and exquisite, which is pleasing to the eye. Entering the small building, a floor of masonry paved, high wooden pillars leading to the roof, in the middle is a patio, and the wooden staircase rotates to lead people to the second floor. The second floor is surrounded by open areas with overhead beams and columns. Although the overall structure is complete, the columns in the building collapsed, the wood was rotten and broken, the ground was uneven, various components were damaged, the paint peeled off, and it was very dilapidated.
"This small building is about 100 years old and was once one of the places where the skills of the Qing Palace Office were inherited." Wu Guanli, deputy manager of Jingcheng Group Chongxi Housing Management Company, introduced. During the Qing Yongzheng period, the Qing Palace Office was moved out of the Yangxin Hall, and the workshop craftsmen gathered in the area of Lubanguan on Xiaoshi Avenue in Nancheng to form a carpentry industry workshop. In 1835, a carpenter surnamed Cheng founded the Tongxinghe Hardwood Furniture Store. After 1920, Tongxinghe absorbed the skilled craftsmen of the office and built a two-story Western-style building on Xiaoshi Street, which was operated in the form of a former store and a backyard. After the public-private partnership in 1955, Tongxinghe was transformed into a state-owned wood factory, which was later rented out as a staff dormitory.
In 2017, the Tongxing and Wood Shop buildings were identified as dangerous houses. After the residents vacate, in 2020, the State-owned enterprise Jingcheng Group in Dongcheng District will be responsible for the repair and design.
The Tongxing and Wood Shop buildings were identified as one of the first historical buildings in Beijing, and the "combination of East and West" is one of its major features. "Hewa, green brick and wood, herringbone gables, wooden cornices, and exquisite brick carvings are all Chinese; while the three-section combination of left, center and right of the building, the triangular roof trusses, iron windows, and stair handrails are Western." Ni Yue said. In the process of preliminary investigation, Ni Yue and his colleagues found dozens of components of considerable artistic and scientific value, such as the same cement tiles in the Forbidden City.
"The repair will follow the principle of 'protection first, emergency repair first, rational utilization, and strengthening management', with the primary goal of ensuring the overall safety of historical buildings." Wu Guanli said. The outer wall of the small building is brick and stone, and the inner beams and columns are basically wood, and after years, the bricks and stones are still there, but many of the wood has decayed. Therefore, the wooden components are the focus of this repair, and the deformations found are replaced. All 6 columns on the first floor are widely decayed and will be piered to ensure structural safety.
Some damaged components also have repair schemes. For example, the "T-shaped brocade" and "random grass" pattern brick carvings at the top of the front of the building, the square rafters of "ten thousand words less than the head", the round rafters with curly grass patterns, etc., the repair will clean them, remove the defacement, and remove the damaged bricks, and the patches will also maintain raw materials and original processes. The same tiles of the Forbidden City will also be restored to their original appearance through cleaning and decontamination. The renovation will also remove components that were improperly repaired and added when it was later used as a dormitory, so as to protect the authenticity and integrity of the historic building.
In February this year, the renovation work will officially begin. After the completion of the repair, we will explore the revitalization and utilization to serve the public.
Courtesy of Jingcheng Group