Side facade
The bustling West Nanjing Road can be seen to some extent as a museum of modern architecture, with buildings lined up along the road documenting the vicissitudes and fashions of the "modern" city of Shanghai over the past century. Located at 325 Nanjing West Road, the former Racecourse Club Building is one of the most prominent and well-preserved historically protected buildings in Shanghai's modern public buildings. As a public building, its public service function has also undergone vicissitudes from the initial horse racing to the current history museum. This process of change not only witnesses shanghai's urban development process, but also creates a deep connection with its users at different times, integrates into the lives of citizens, and becomes a part of Shanghai's lifestyle.
Early 20th century horse racing and the Jockey Club building
Since the opening of the port in 1843, Shanghai has been the place where cultural exchanges and collisions between the East and the West in China are the most frequent. As Westerners came to Shanghai to settle down and bring their way of life, horse racing also came to Shanghai. When it was first introduced to Shanghai, the Qing government banned ordinary Chinese people from participating in horse racing activities, and only officials from Shanghai Daotai and Zhixian were allowed to visit the racecourse when they were invited. It was not until 1909 that Chinese could buy tickets to participate in horse betting activities, and a few years later, Xu was interested in the huge revenue potential in this area, and the racecourse began to sell horse betting lottery tickets called "champagne tickets". According to the data, around 1889, the annual income of the Racecourse Was only 22,000 yuan; after 1920, it reached more than 4 million yuan per year; around 1939, it reached 8 million yuan per year. The gambling industry is incredibly profitable, so that the runners will always make a lot of money. In order to give premium members a more luxurious entertainment experience, the Racecourse will continue to improve the entertainment environment of the Racecourse and the construction of the racecourse.
front
Due to the special nature of horse racing activities, the horse racing venue has high requirements, usually there must be a grass or sand circular track, spectator stands, as well as stables and other supporting entertainment facilities. Shanghai's earliest racecourse was built by the Jockey Club in 1850 (that is, the thirty years of Qingdaoguang); later, due to the increase in land prices driven by horse racing activities, foreign merchants bought land at a low price, sold land at a high price, and earned a high price difference in real estate prices, and relocated and rebuilt three times; and finally settled in the area of today's People's Park. The Shanghai Racecourse, which had made huge profits through the real estate and gaming industry, decided in 1932 to build a magnificent club building in the northwest corner of the racecourse for the pleasure of senior members. At that time, the British architectural firm Ma Haiyang Hang (formerly known as Ma Mining Division Foreign Firm) undertook the design project of the Jockey Club building and was built by the local construction team Yu Hongji Construction Factory. Completed a year later, the Jockey Club building covers an area of 8,900 square meters, with a construction area of 21,000 square meters and a four-storey height, since then this magnificent red brick building has been standing as a landmark on Nanjing West Road in Shanghai.
Because of its open and flat grounds, the racecourse has historically been used not only as a horse racer, but also as a barracks. Especially after the outbreak of the Pacific War, the Japanese army forcibly occupied the Running Horse Club building for garrisons and continued to operate the gaming industry to earn military funds. After Japan's defeat and surrender in 1945, the Racecourse Hall stopped horse racing and gambling, and the U.S. military took over as the U.S. military barracks and the remaining material warehouse. Until the liberation of Shanghai in 1949, the Municipal Military Control Commission officially took over the Racecourse Hall, and the people's government carried out a drastic transformation of it, turning the southern part of the original Racecourse Hall into a People's Square, the north into a People's Park, and the Middle Of the People's Avenue. In 1952, the Running Horse Club Building became the Shanghai Museum; in 1959, the Museum was moved out and changed to the Shanghai Library; in 1997, the Shanghai Library moved to the new library, and the building was transformed into the Shanghai Art Museum; today, the original Running Horse Club Building has become the Shanghai Municipal History Museum/Shanghai Revolutionary History Museum, and its southeast is Shanghai Contemporary Landmark Buildings - Shanghai Grand Theatre, Shanghai Urban Planning Museum, Shanghai Museum; Metro Line 1 and Line 2 People's Square Station to the east. The drunken racecourse has become a historical term, and the tree-lined People's Square has become a new landmark in Shanghai.
Champagne ticket
Ma Haiyang line with neoclassical architecture
According to Mr. Zheng Shiling's staging of modern architecture in Shanghai, the construction of the Running Horse Club building is in the peak of the construction of modern architecture in Shanghai. At that time, Shanghai was the country's financial center, industrial center, commercial center, foreign trade center, transportation center, shipping center and communication center, and was in the "modern era" in the history of Shanghai's urban development. Affected by the development of economic activities, rising land prices and the rapid development of construction technology, modern architecture has also entered a period of vigorous development. At that time, Shanghai brought together a large number of outstanding domestic and foreign architects, and the architectural styles were also complex and diverse, with both local characteristics and Western styles. There were four tendencies in shanghai's modern architectural style during this period, of which the more popular was still the Western neoclassical style, as well as the gradually developing traditional Chinese classical revival style, "international" style and Art Deco style. It is worth mentioning that these different styles have well-preserved cases in the existing modern architecture in Shanghai.
Ma Haiyang, who undertook the design of the Racecourse Building, is characterized by neoclassical architecture, and its outstanding works in modern Shanghai include not only the Racecourse Building, but also public buildings such as the Maibian Building at No. 1 on the Bund and the Zhongnan Bank, as well as residential buildings such as Azila House, Yang's Apartment (now Yongye Building) and Xinkang Garden. Among them, the Racecourse building shows a perfect neoclassical style, the façade is strictly proportioned; the façade façade is made of red brick and brushed stone finishes and stone, presenting a typical neoclassical feature; the second and third floors of the west façade are lined with Tashkent-style columns; the top floor is covered with red tile roof; the entire building is red and white, and the elegance and calmness highlight the low-key magnificence and refinement. Due to the narrowness of the surface facing Nanjing West Road, the architect designed a 49-meter-high reinforced concrete clock tower, the upper part of which is a four-sided triangular slope roof, forming a north-south axis; the east side of the bell tower is a grandstand.
Internal exhibition hall
To better understand neoclassicism, which began in the second half of the 18th century, and the architectural styles under its influence, you can start by understanding the neoclassical movement. The essence of the neoclassical movement lies in the attempt to establish the classical laws of reason, to create rational archetypes and ideal architecture; architecture advocates a return to the principles of classical aesthetics such as "unity in change", "proportion", and "harmony". In general, neoclassicism emphasizes the classical architectural archetype of rationality, pursues the philosophical truth of structure and aesthetics, and is a classical law that combines rationality and archaeology. Compared with the simplicity and sense of wholeness of classical architecture, neoclassicism pays more attention to the perfection of composition and incorporates a large number of historical styles, of which two value tendencies are worthy of attention. One is the historicist tendency to incorporate historical styles into architecture; the other is the tendency of eclecticism, that is, to collage two or more historical architectural styles. Neoclassicism continued in Europe until the beginning of the 20th century, when it was gradually replaced by modern movements; however, in Shanghai at the beginning of the 20th century, because Western architects or Chinese architects educated in the West were still based on the classical architectural language of the academic school, combined with social needs and fashions, the modern architecture of Shanghai in this period was still dominated by neoclassical architectural styles.
After nearly 90 years of history, the interior of this building basically retains the classical European decoration style of the Jockey Club building in the early 20th century, and the overall use of off-white marble flooring and walls with black cast iron decoration, forming a harmonious unity of elegance and thickness. Similar to the Peace Hotel, built almost at the same time, the building of the Racecourse Building also partially uses french Lakley crystal glass-decorated doors as space separations. It is worth emphasizing that the particularity of Lakley glass is that due to the integration of antimony, arsenic and cobalt in the firing process, the finished product usually appears irregular translucent, and can present a special change of light and shadow effect under light. Colourful Lakley glass is used to open doors to the halls on each floor, giving the interior spaces of the building a multi-coloured and dreamlike effect. In addition, echoing the horse racing theme, a large number of details of the interior decoration of the building have adopted the element of "horse", such as on the cast iron railing of the staircase, the elegant curved iron railing converges in the middle to form a shell-like rotating horse head; multiple horse heads are arranged in order to form the fence of the staircase; and the cast iron horse head fence adds a strong sense of artistry to the interior space of the building.
Wrought iron railings
As the Shanghai Municipal History Museum today, the 5-storey interior of the historic building is open to the public. The hall on the first floor is a special exhibition hall for temporary exhibition activities; the collections on the second to fourth floors tell the development trajectory of Shanghai's history, comprehensively display shanghai's ancient and modern history cultural relics, especially the revolutionary activities in Shanghai since the founding of the Communist Party of China, which have detailed cultural relics records, and tell the red history of Shanghai in depth and movingly. Looking at the museum, the ancient historical style of the building and the exhibits in the collection are telling one vivid story after another, the old building and the old story shine together, let people sometimes be in the Wusong Fort of the Opium War, hand caressing the bronze cannon of General Zhenyuan; sometimes standing on the Suzhou Creek, witnessing the completion of the Waibaidu Bridge; sometimes excited for the founding of the Communist Party of China...
Integrate into civic life
Whether it is the Jockey Club building or the Shanghai Municipal History Museum, as a public building, the building itself carries a large variety of daily activities. The spatial layout and appearance of the building will also change in response to the activities of the people, and this situation also occurs in this historical building, on the top floor of the building, there is a bungalow that occupies about 1/4 of the roof area of the building, which is now a restaurant, and the existence of this loft-like bungalow does not seem to be very compatible with the spatial function of the building itself. But the visit and research tells us that it is this bungalow and this roof garden that make residents and this building have more life and emotional connection, so that a silent public building glows with a wisp of life - standing on the roof garden, you can see the hustle and bustle of Nanjing West Road, there is a wonderful feeling of being quiet and overlooking the prosperity; before coming to the restaurant, do some homework, understand the architectural history of the restaurant, and understand the development of the city of Shanghai. We interviewed the landscape architect who remodeled the roof garden of the building, and he said that this quiet garden is like a blue bird staying on a towering tree in the urban jungle, witnessing many important moments in his life, which is a very important place for him...
Lackery glass doors
The function of architecture lies in carrying human activities, and the charm of architecture lies in the emotional connection between people and buildings. As a building that has stood on Nanjing West Road in Shanghai for nearly 90 years, whether it is called the Racecourse Building or the Shanghai Municipal History Museum, the function of the building is constantly changing with the development of history, and the connection between it and the user population is gradually changing. From the red wine and greenery, the thousands of gold, the paper drunk gold fans, the racecourse that has witnessed countless ups and downs, the joys and sorrows, to a quiet and safe park in the hustle and bustle of the bustling city, the vicissitudes of the racecourse are the epitome of the ups and downs of the times, and today is also a sign of the era of stability and prosperity.
Related link: "The Golden Horse on the Wind Needle Spreads Its Four Hooves towards the Red Moon"
Chen Zuen
In February 1933, the Building of the Racecourse was inaugurated. The reddish-brown bricks and stones intersected, and the hands on the bell tower were bright, making it a landmark scene of Jing'an Temple Road (now Nanjing West Road). The new sensation writer Mu Shiying said: "On the roof of the racecourse, the golden horse on the wind needle spread four hooves towards the red moon..."
The Horse Racing Club, also known as the Racecourse, is actually a horse racing club. Where there are English gentlemen, there are racecourses, and this seems to be a law. In 1850, when there were only more than 200 Western expatriates in Shanghai, mainly British, they brought horse racing into the land that had only been open for seven years. Due to the competitive charm of horse racing and the temptation of gambling bonuses, this Western sports entertainment project has rapidly emerged in Shanghai. In 1862, when the racecourse appeared on Jing'an Temple Road, three places had already been changed. At the same time, the Polo Club came into being, and the original building was a beautiful two-storey Western-style building, surrounded by open doors, with a bell tower on the roof, sanitary facilities and bathrooms.
In 1932, the Racecourse demolished the old house and rebuilt the new building. The building was designed by the British merchant Ma Haiyang Company, and the contractor was the Yu Hong Ji Construction Factory as a member. The exterior of the building is naturally majestic, but the exquisite interior and the perfection of the function fully reflect the entertainment and service of the members. On the ground floor is the ticket office and lottery collection office, on the mezzanine floor is the bowling alley, on the first floor is the club, there are cafes, card rooms, newspaper reading rooms and marbles rooms, etc., and the café is equipped with a huge brick fireplace. The restaurant is on the southern side of the first floor, with a corridor outside, made of red tiles, where the owner can observe his horse, and in front of it is the reclining grandstand. On the second and third floors are private rooms, there are more than 30 rooms, in front of the boxes is a corridor, directly facing the racecourse, you can see various activities. Each private room is a private space and very comfortable. There is a swimming pool and Turkish bath in the building, and there is a dedicated staircase for female guests. The bell tower is located at the northern end of the roof, 160 feet high, the diameter of the four sides of the bell is 10 feet, so the hands can be seen in the distance, and there are sixteen clocks throughout the building to report the time for the visitors.
On February 28, 1934, the opening ceremony of the Racecourse Club adopted the opening ceremony commonly used in the West. That day, the architect Spence gave a small box with a gold-colored key in it to the general manager, Bai Ke. Beck used this key to open the door, and members poured in, opening the celebration feast of the mansion.
The club holds a grand Christmas party every year, and on the long table of the restaurant is a sumptuous silver bowl filled with flowers. The silver bowl was surprisingly large. Once a man made a bet with a beautiful lady and asked her if she would dare to jump in. Unexpectedly, she immediately agreed, instructed the servant to pour out the flowers and water in the bowl, fill it with champagne, and then, in full view of everyone, stepped on the table and jumped into the silver bowl.
There will always be a tongren club, with Chinese as the main body. In 1938, member Shi Weichen, in the name of a club figure, imitated the "Buried Room Inscription" and made a text of the Zhizhi body inscription, which is also another scenery of reading architecture:
The part is not in shape, and if it is shaped, it is "eyebrow" (stone eyebrow). Happy is not much, although "less" is also ling (Zhao Shaolan). Si is paradise, but I am "eternal life" (Chen Yongsheng). Sit in the south and the Racecourse hall in the east. There are "Hongsheng" (Zhang Hongsheng) and "Xianjun" (Hongxian Jun). You can "listen to sheng" songs (Chen Lisheng) and listen to "Fengming" (Zhuang Fengming). He wanted to "seek wealth" (Tang Meifu) to "relieve hunger" (Lu Zhongqi) and "Hongfa" (Li Hongfa) to "benefit people" (Shi Weichen). Dong Chang Hong Xian, officer Lu Xi Bird. "Ou" (Ou Ersheng) Junyun: What is "difficult" (Wang Naizhi)?
Author: Tang Pan, Liu Jingjing, Chen Zuen (Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University, Ph.D., University of Sheffield, UK, And Professor, School of Humanities, Donghua University)
Editor: Zhou Minxian
Editor-in-Charge: Shao Ling
*Wenhui exclusive manuscript, please indicate the source when reprinting.