Architect A. Krenov’s residence, from 100 years ago
Image from odynokiy.livejournal.com blog
This photo shows the Shanghai home of the Russian architect Alexander Sergeevich Krenov (1860-1926); the architect and his wife are standing on the balcony.
Patrick Cranley, of Historic Shanghai, immediately recognized this building as 392 Wukang Road 武康路392号, that is, 392 Route Ferguson in the olden days.
The Chinese sources associate this house with the warlord Ma Bufang 马步芳 (1903-1975). But General Ma among the last tenants of this mansion, not the first. The same sources often give the wrong year of construction: 1912, whereas it should be 1921.
A. S. Krenov only spent several years in Shanghai, but he built several buildings here. Is this four-story baroque villa one of his projects? It could be! Dozens of buildings he designed back in Imperial Russia were all in neoclassical, baroque, art nouveau and eclectic styles.
Back in the 1900s-1910s, in Saint Petersburg, Krenov owned a number of buildings of his design, using them as his rental income properties. One of his signature touches was the particularly lavish decor of the entrance halls of his mansions and apartment buildings. Can this be said about 392 Wukang Road?
1939 map from Virtual Shanghai.
Alas, there is presently no data about the original owner of the mansion at 392 Route Ferguson. In January 1924, when the first resident directory was published, we find a certain Miss R. Leonard registered there, and no one else. The next year the only official tenant is A. Maier. That same year, the mansion stopped being a single family home, converted to the apartments handled by the Continental Corporation of China:
“TO LET, modern apartments at 392 Route Ferguson. All modern conveniences and central heating at very reasonable rental.” (Ad from April 1925)
“TO LET, modern flat in 392 Route Ferguson, commodious rooms, ideal arrangement, modern convenience, spacious lawn with or without garage, reasonable rental, with possession from October 1.” (Ad from Sept 1928)
The mansion served as an apartment house all the way through the 1930s. In 1929, its residents were Mr & Mrs L. H. ten Bruggen Cate, Mr & Mrs J. K. Ireland, Peter J. Ireland, N. Yakovleff and C. Beilin. In July 1941 - the last time the hongs were published - we find Mr & Mrs Adolph Memelsdorff, W. G. E. Beckmann, A. Reynand, Tsang Ming Gee and Major H. S. and Mrs Bartley living here. If the General Ma Bufang lived here at one point, it must have been between 1946 and 1949. Additionally, in the 1947 directory, we see Woo Ching Woo and Tsang Ming Gee, and Ho Yuan Shi Chun (an enterprise?).
After 1955, the house was nationalized. Now protected as a heritage building and assigned the number XH-J-017-V, it continues to serve as a multi-family residence. The street view can see seen on Baidu.
Here are the interiors of a fourth-floor apartment, taken from a real estate video tour:
For all the modifications the place has gone through, the house is still pretty cool and full of original details. If the architect Krenov stepped out on the balcony on the other side of the property, he would see...
...that some time after 1980 a small apartment building was inserted into the back garden, now numbered 392A, or 武康路392号乙. But in spite of the loss of the garden, he might have appreciated the income from the rent: 16,800 yuan a month for this 60 sq m apartment!
Modern building added behind the old villa at 392 Wukang Road.