The four-storey building at 333 Tongren Road is known as the "Green House" because of its distinctive green façade. From the outside, the building is simple and clean, and there is no excessive decoration, but in depth, from the details, you will find the ingenuity of the architectural design. Today we will walk into this place together and explore the past and present lives of this old building.↓
The building itself: like a big ship
The building is a four-storey garden house with a floor area of approximately 1,689 square meters and was completed in July 1938. Because the entire building is covered with green glazed bricks on the façade, the old Shanghainese used to call it "green house". The building's green glazed brick façade, curved large copper windows and long copper railings on a large platform resemble a large ship moored in the harbor, with a graceful "string" arc and a straight "hull" façade, simple and dynamic. The designers express the streamlined lines very smoothly in the design process, with a strong sense of modernity.
This building has a unique layout, exquisite decoration and advanced equipment, and was built as one of the famous private residences in Shanghai. The building is placed on the north side of the foundation of the house, surrounded by walls, close to Beijing West Road, leaving a large garden on the south side of the house, where cars can drive.
The main building is arranged from north to south, the ground floor is a gatehouse, a flower room, a marble room and a hall, and there is a street corridor in the middle; the second floor is a cloakroom, a dining room, a daylight room, and a study; the third floor is a living room, a dining room, a bedroom, and a dressing room; and the fourth floor is also a living room and a bedroom.
The indoor facilities of the whole building are advanced, the ground floor hall is equipped with spring floor, glass canopy, the staircase corridor is made of marble masonry, and the coal bathroom cooling and heating device is complete. Marble paved streamlined staircase, cast copper handrail, glass veneer made of stair guardrail, interior wall façade embedded with copper radiator, architectural decoration is also very novel and unique.
The living room, dining room and other rooms on the second floor of the building are integrated inwards, and there is a spacious living terrace facing south, with an area of more than 70 square meters. In front of the hall, there is a row of floor-to-ceiling windows that integrate the outdoor terrace with the garden outside, and the panoramic view is complete.
At the west end of the outer side of the terrace, there is a large, rather elegant outdoor spiral staircase, from which the second floor leads directly to the garden. Indoor and outdoor, upstairs and downstairs, all blend together. The bedroom on the third floor is again retracted inwards, giving way to a terrace measuring about 40 square meters.
The top terrace is divided into semi-indoor and semi-outdoor spaces by a semi-circular awning. The terraces on each floor are layered and face the garden, organically combining with the natural space to form the unity of indoor and outdoor space.
The large lawn in front of the main building covers an area of 1367 m², surrounded by trees such as holly, which is spacious and atmospheric, and also sets off the main building building.
Building Story: Homeowners see green as a lucky color
The owner of the "green house" was originally engaged in the pigment business, because of the development of military green pigments and became rich, so green is regarded as a lucky color, in 1938, the construction of a residence here, requiring designers to use green as the main color of the building, so the achievement of today's famous "green house".
Architectural design drawings and other relevant photos
Building repair: Demolition and construction To restore the original shape
In 2014, the carefully restored "Green House" was put into use as the "Planner's Home" of Shanghai Planning and Design Research Institute, which integrated the functions of external exchange display and project small team office.
The ground floor foyer and curved main staircase are restored
In order to protect the original overall environment of the building, this renovation expands the garden green area as much as possible under the existing conditions, restores the original shape of the building, demolishes the later construction, and focuses on repairing the glazed tiles, steel doors and windows of the building's exterior walls. After the renovation, the original foyer and key indoor spaces such as the curved main staircase, the middle lane, and the south side suite were reproduced. By reinforcing the original structure, the building life is extended, and the equipment and facilities such as fire protection and air conditioning are added to improve the safety, space quality and comfort of building use.
Travertine restoration
Cast iron armrest repair
The features and difficulties of this protection and repair include the protection and repair of original objects such as customized elevators, as well as the protection, restoration and renewal of special decorative materials such as green face tiles on the façade, indoor and outdoor steel windows, indoor yellow cave stone walls, red cylinder bricks on the ground, handrails for marble and copper railings on the stairs, sound insulation and insulation cork layers for the top surface and floor top panels, terrazzo window sills, long narrow wooden floors, stone skirting boards, tile skirting boards, mosaic floors, oil-based coatings for interior walls, and wooden parapets.
Building punch point
Antique elevator
Today, walking into the "Green House", a 4-story, 4-station antique elevator is still operating normally, except for the replacement of lamps, other styles are still the same. Different from the boxy modern elevator shape, the car of this elevator is lotus-shaped, and the door of the car entrance hall is connected in an arc, which is unique and rare. The elevator is only about half a square meter, limited to 3 people at a time; the elevator is also equipped with a mirror, which allows passengers to use a short time to sort out their clothes, and every detail hides the designer's mind.
Sun room
There is a sun room in the master bedroom on each floor, where you can enjoy the garden views from the inside. Especially the sun room on the top floor of the fourth floor, it uses 12 pieces of light green embossed glass, emphasizing the lighting at the same time, but also pay attention to softening the scorching sun, which is a good interpretation of the design concept of the sun room.
Nearby punch points
Building 1418 Nanjing West Road
This place was originally the residence of overseas Chinese in Shanghai. The building imitates the Renaissance architectural style, with a brick-concrete structure of 3 floors, covering an area of 4361 square meters, the two buildings are basically the same architectural style, and the indoor pattern is similar.
Address: No. 1418, Nanjing West Road, Jing'an District
Shi Liangcai's former residence
Address: No. 257 Tongren Road
This is an elegant garden house, with a construction area of 2494 square meters and a garden area of 2276 square meters, and its owner was Shi Liangcai, a former Shanghai newspaper giant and general manager of "Declaration". The residence is three stories high, the second floor has a large rick's pilasters, the gallery hall is very spacious, there is a fireplace on the wall side, and the floor and staircase and handrail of the whole house are made of beige marble.
Recommended tourist routes around
Xikang Park → Shi Liangcai Former Residence→ Wu Tongwen Former Residence (Green House) → Jing'an Park → Cai Yuanpei Former Residence Exhibition Hall → Yuanli Pawnshop Site→ Shanghai Museum of Natural History (Shanghai Science and Technology Museum Branch)