In the center of Shanghai, in the former French Concession, there is a quiet road full of sycamores that travels through the centuries: Sinan Road. In 1914, the French Public Security Bureau built this road and named it "MasNan Road" in honor of the pop musician Jules Massenet, the author of "Meditations"; in 1946, Masnan Road was renamed after Sinan County, Guizhou Province, and it is still used today. On both sides of Sinan Road, there are a variety of residential types from the 1920s and 1930s, such as free-standing garden houses (Yipin Village), townhouses (Lane 256, Chongqing South Road), Lianli Garden Residences (No. 537 Fuxing Road), new-style Lane residences (WanfuFang, WeidaFang), Garden Lane Residences (Lane 268 South Chongqing Road), modern apartment-style houses (No. 45 Sinan Road), and independent garden houses with inner courtyards (No. 505 Fuxing Middle Road), recording the century-old culture of modern residential architecture in Shanghai.
Old Bungalows: History and Memories as a Residential Building
Sinan Mansion, also known as Sinan Road Historic District, was a transitional area for the third expansion of the French Concession that year, and also the starting point for the development of high-end residential areas in the western part of the French Concession. In the 1920s and 1930s, Shanghai established its status as the national industrial and commercial, economic, educational and cultural center, which was the "golden age" of economic development. During this period, the real estate industry in Shanghai flourished, with more than 300 real estate operators, including church organizations and general foreign firms. The annual real estate turnover reaches tens of millions of yuan. In 1921, the Belgian-run Crèdit Foncier d'Extrême-Orient built four rows of 23 detached garden houses on the east side of Sinan Road, which later became the main body of the block, known as the "Village of Yipin". At that time, in the French Concession, there were not many Belgian expatriates, and most of the owners of this part of the industry were clergy or employees of the Yipin Real Estate Company.
The architectural form of Yipin Village is similar, all are free-standing garden houses, designed by Allalias, in French country style, with an exquisite garden in front of each house. It is a three- to four-storey brick-concrete structure with the main entrance facing west and stone steps leading to the first floor, and an inner balcony on the second floor facing south, which is connected to the garden by a straight staircase. The roof is made of terracotta flat tile double-slope roof, the exterior wall is a cement mortar plastered with natural pebble finishes, the window sash is ochre lacquered wood shutters, the ground floor auxiliary room is decorated with a pointed ticket arcade, and there is a staircase on the west side of the building leading to a brick arch ticket entrance. Lu Xitian, Xue Dubi, Cheng Qian, Gao Gongdu and many other important members of the political, business and academic circles have also been resident here, and the Shanghai Branch of the East China Headquarters of Xinhua News Agency, the Central Mint, the Shanghai People's Printing Factory, the Shanghai Second Medical College and other institutions have been set up. The most famous of these are mei lanfang's former residence at no. 87 Sinan Road and the Zhou Mansion at no. 73.
The Zhou Mansion is the Shanghai Office of the Communist Party of China delegation established in 1946 after the end of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, known to the outside world as the "Residence of General Zhou Enlai", that is, the Zhou Mansion, which is now the memorial hall of the Office of the Communist Party of China in Shanghai. Originally owned by the owner of a Japanese foreign firm, the building was confiscated by the Nationalist government after the End of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and later distributed to Huang Tianxia of the Kuomintang Central Committee. In March and April 1946, it was secretly leased by Qiao Guanhua and Gong Peng through their brother-in-law. Because the Nationalist government obstructed the CPC delegation from setting up an office in Shanghai, it was called the Zhou Mansion. The building is in the same form as other garden houses in the same area, and is a four-storey detached garden house. However, there is a lawn in front of the house, and there is a large tower pine planted in the middle of the lawn, which is a pleasant environment. After the establishment of the office, some renovation was carried out here, and a garage was added along the sinan road side, and the roof was used as an entrance platform on the second floor. At that time, the functional distribution was the ground floor garage, communication room, kitchen, bathroom, storage room and staff bedroom, the second floor conference room, Zhou Enlai and his wife bedroom and office, the guard staff bedroom and dining room, the third floor male staff bedroom and office, with a data room and a newspaper room, the fourth floor Dong Biwu and his wife bedroom and office, Qian Zhiguang and his wife bedroom, retreat and reception staff dormitory, female staff bedroom and office. After the outbreak of the Liberation War, the Chinese communist delegation withdrew to Yan'an in March 1947, and in May the building was transferred to the delegation of the Chinese Democratic League for use as Luo Longji's apartment.
The historical buildings of Sinan Road, represented by Yipin Village, tell the residential style of Shanghai a hundred years ago with a regular and dexterous volume, a red French roof, a pebble wall, an arcade decorated with pointed coupons, and a garden planted with grass and trees. These old bungalows, which have been destroyed in war and history, are fortunately reborn in today's urban development.
New Neighborhood: Conservation and regeneration of historic buildings
The architecture of the Sinan Road Historic District has historically been a typical example of high-quality housing, with an excellent location, quiet and tranquil environment, and excellent design. But over the course of a long history, both the overuse of buildings and the large-scale development of cities have had a devastating impact on them.
When Yipin Village was first built, all kinds of houses inside were used by single-family households. With the public-private partnership in 1952 and the chaos after 1968, it gradually became a mixed residential community with complex property rights, multiple social layers and mixed social backgrounds. At most, there are more than a dozen families living in a building at the same time. The use of a single dwelling by multiple families has caused problems such as crowded space, poor lighting and ventilation, collapsed floors, aging and peeling of the façade, and abandoned gardens. In 1959, Yipin Village was listed as an excellent historical building in Shanghai, but the old houses in this area were not included in the similar list. Therefore, when the renovation of the Sinan Road Historic District was launched in 1999, there was a plan to demolish other buildings except Yipin Village and balance the funds with high-intensity development.
However, excellent historic buildings do not exist independently. In addition to the building itself, the environment in which she is located and the echoes of the surrounding buildings are also an indispensable part of its existence value. The protection and repair of historical buildings can not only stay in the attention to the building itself, but should start from the whole and the overall situation, considering its comprehensive value.
In order to reproduce the cultural value of Sinan Road Historic District, so that this neighborhood that has passed through a hundred years can shine in the new era, and at the same time reflect its unique regionality and era, finally in the "Shanghai Sinan Road Garden Residential Area Protection and Renovation Plan" compiled by Shanghai Tongji Urban Planning and Design Institute, the nature of Sinan Road Historic District is proposed as "a high-quality living, leisure and entertainment community with unique cultural and historical characteristics of Shanghai modern times", and sets "protection" and "regeneration" for this block. Two goals. Among them, the "protection goals" include: protecting and displaying the historical characteristics of urban construction in the course of Shanghai's modern history; protecting and displaying the architectural style and spatial characteristics of various historical buildings in the Sinan Road Historic District; and preserving and displaying the historical sites of China's modern revolution and celebrity activities. The "regeneration goals" include: protecting and continuing the residential and leisure and entertainment functions of the Sinan Road block; protecting and rectifying the spatial environment of the Sinan Road Historic District, strengthening the ecology and culture of the environment; providing high-quality services and management; and forming a new type of integrated community with radiant power.
Under the guidance of the two goals of conservation and regeneration, the renovation work is divided into two parts: the protective repair and reuse of old buildings and the new construction. In the protective restoration work, according to the original design drawings of the building provided by the historical archives, the building is restored, and the use of functions such as hygiene, heating, and air conditioning is modernized and improved. Taking Mei Lanfang's former residence as an example, through the reduction formed by the assembly of the old floor, Mr. Mei Baojiu, who came to visit, said that he found the memories of running around here when he was a child. The repair technology has undergone repeated research and experiments: first of all, the proportion analysis of the building façade, structural system, building plan, foundation and decoration, etc., the second step is to use the model test method to conduct field tests on the artistry, scientificity and reversibility of the repair technology, and then conduct field tests on the reuse of adaptive technology, and finally form a perfect technical system that can be applied to the entire block. The design and construction of new buildings is more free, using modern materials such as steel and glass, which contrast with historical buildings, so that the simple and modern formal language is dotted in the restored historical picture of the neighborhood.
The renovated Sinan Mansion is composed of four functional areas: Sinan Mansion Hotel, Characteristic Famous Shop, Enterprise Mansion and Sinan Mansion Apartment. Sinan Mansion Hotel consists of 21 detached garden houses in Yipin Village, which retain the appearance of the past. The commercial area is a mixture of old and new, through the dialogue between tradition and modernity to form a contemporary high-quality commercial block, which is distributed with catering, retail, exhibition, beauty and other functions.
In addition to the spatial and formal repairs and renewals, the renovation of the Sinan Road Historic District does not ignore the stories that have happened here and the people who once lived here. Buildings, gardens, paths, street lamps are engraved with stories of the past, by scanning the QR code, visitors can hear a piece of anecdotes of the Republic of China, get an immersive feeling. Every house here has a story, every garden is a legend, and these cultural IPs are integrated into the overall planning of renovation and renovation, which promotes the further improvement of asset value.
Compared with the century-old residential style recorded by the old bungalows, the Sinan New Block, which has undergone protective repair and adaptive regeneration, like the transformation of Xintiandi and Tianzifang, is a representative stroke in the renewal of Shanghai's historic district. History, culture, technology, characters, stories, emotions are all integrated in this reborn neighborhood, telling her unique experience for the ancient and beautiful city of Shanghai.
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Then and Now: The Improvement of The Method of Historic District Conservation
Shanghai is a city with both history, culture and future technology, and the protection and renewal of Shanghai's historic districts also has the significance and value of a pathfinder in many aspects. Since the 1990s, the research and practice related to the protection and renewal of historical districts in the mainland has been constantly moving forward in exploration.
The concept of a "historic district" was first proposed in the 1994 Requirements for the Preparation of Protection Planning for Famous Historical and Cultural Cities. Since this time, the cognition of the relevant fields of the mainland has broken through from the macro level of the historical and cultural city to the meso level of the historical district. In the decade after 1994, most of the protection and renewal work of historical districts in the mainland has taken the transformation of material space as the main goal, and has carried out work from multiple levels such as infrastructure, street texture, and landscape improvement by referring to successful cases abroad.
In 2005, the "Specification for the Protection and Planning of Famous Historical and Cultural Cities" was officially promulgated, which made detailed provisions on the delineation of the purple line of the historic district and the method of style improvement. Since this time, the protection of historical districts in the mainland has begun to pay more attention to the response to historical traditions and social culture, and through organic renewal, public participation, and typological methods, to achieve the protection of the humanistic and social network of historical districts, inherit regional culture, and avoid the destructive protection of cultural traditions by focusing only on material space.
At present, the protection method of historical districts on the mainland has been expanded, that is, more attention is paid to the value and role of people, and the demands of different stakeholders are included in the process of renewal work. At the same time, new concepts such as spatial syntax, community building, urban repair, and urban catalysts are constantly being introduced. Conservation and renewal work is also being refined, and in recent years, urban micro-renewal projects have emerged in various cities.
The protection and renewal work of the Sinan Road Historic District fully reflects the consideration of the material space and the humanistic social network, the historical building is placed in the overall environment of the block, and the restoration repair is completed in the protection and renewal work, the original appearance of the material space is reproduced, and the humanistic network is linked, showing the regionality by telling the story and adding new formal elements. It is believed that in the days to come, this neighborhood that retains the residential style of old Shanghai will also undergo uninterrupted renewal, and at the same time integrate into the picture of Shanghai's urban development with a more integrated attitude.
Author: Li Yuan (Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University)
Editor: Guo Chaohao
Editor-in-Charge: Wang Yan
*Wenhui exclusive manuscript, please indicate the source when reprinting.