The Spanish house for Shanghai
The recent post by Historic Shanghai about Spanish-style architecture for China promoted by Robert Fan and Carl Lindbom, made us curious about the earliest examples of this style and its practitioners in Shanghai.
The Columbia Country Club, designed by Elliott Hazzard in “California Mission style,” which partially opened in November 1924, perhaps was the earliest example of this style, clearly signaling what a fashionable American building should look like:
Address: 1262 West Yan'an Road 延安西路1262号. PastVu: https://pastvu.com/p/695642
After that, we should mention the irrelevantly named Samarkand Apartments, on Avenue Joffre, as the next realization of the Spanish style. This design by Palmer and Turner, presented to the public in 1929, was described as “Florida style” (while in Florida it would probably be identified as Mediterranean Revival):
Address: 2038 Middle Huaihai Road 淮海中路2038号. More info, drawings and photos: https://avezink.livejournal.com/226667.html
In 1929, Laszlo Hudec showed a number of Spanish-inflected projects for Shanghai, among them, this “pleasing residence in Western District” in the style “popular in California and New Mexico”:
Address: Xinhua Road Lane 329 No 15 // 新华路329弄15号. PastVu: https://pastvu.com/p/1578941
...and also this “residence of the Spanish type”:
Address: unconfirmed. PastVu: https://pastvu.com/p/1902877
Hudec was closely involved in the planning and realization of the Columbia Circle development, built between 1929 and the 1940s on Amherst Avenue. Not only was “Spanish style” one of the official styles of the whole project, but there were also multiple variations of it - “San Clemente style,” “San Diego style,” “California style” and “Florida style.” They were not tremendously different from one another, but offered the potential homeowner an illusion of a choice and of being up-to-date with the latest trends in architecture.
“San Clemente style” homes are supposed to have a portico, an outdoor sun parlor and a balcony. Here is one such house designed by L. Hudec, shown in the Asia Realty brochure:
Source: Hudec Collection at the University of Victoria.
Within the Columbia Circle, on today’s Xinhua Road (former Amherst Avenue), there are at least two residences in San Clemente style: one at Lane 185 No. 1 新华路185弄1号 and another at Lane 329 No. 38 新华路329弄38号.
An example of general California style is found inside Lane 329, at No. 42 新华路329弄42号.
A house in San Diego style is found at Lane 211 No. 3:
The residence of Mark Moody in the San Diego style, at today’s Xinhua Road Lane 211 No. 3 新华路211弄3号. PastVu: https://pastvu.com/p/1902802
There are several examples of the Florida style: Lane 211 Nos. 4 and 18, and Lane 365 No. 4 新华路211弄4号，18号，新华路365弄4号.
And the “pure” Spanish style house is found at Lane 272 No. 6 新华路365弄4号.
Shall we include the Hollywood style too? The residence at Lane 257 No. 15 (Hudec’s drawing of the “pleasing residence”) was labeled just that in the 1930 promotional brochure published by the Asia Realty Co.. Hollywood homes are supposed to have a roof garden. Other examples are Lane 365 No. 5 and 369 Xinhua Road 新华路365弄5号，新华路369号.
Outside the Columbia Circle, on the nearby Columbia Road (now Panyu Road), Hudec built Spanish houses too, such as his own residence (below), which later became the home of Sun Ke, Sun Yat-sen’s son:
Address: 60 Panyu Road 番禺路60号. Photo: internet.
Already in 1924, J. V. W. Bergamini observed that in China, simple Spanish or Italian Mission buildings “seem to harmonize with the environment better than other foreign styles.” In 1933, the architect Carl Lindbom, who was active in California (and specifically in San Clemente), started publishing articles in the Shanghai press, condemning Romanesque, Gothic, Italian, Renaissance and Rococo styles as hideous and arguing that Spanish houses are perfect for China. In February 1934, Carl Lindbom and Robert Fan showed their proposals for 24 Shanghai homes in the Spanish style, which were exhibited in Hotel Plaza. They also published the brochure The Spanish House for China:
Source: Universitat Oberta de Catalunya.
Many Shanghai architects and studios turned to the “Spanish” style at least once in their career: Elliott Hazzard, Alexander Yaron, Poy Gum Lee, Robert Fan, Xi Fuquan, Gabriel Rabinovich, Wladimir Livin-Goldenstaedt, Nicolay Emanoff, Lan Ronxiang, Arthur Q. Adamson; the architects of Foncim, Calatroni & Hsieh, Palmer and Turner, Algar and Co., Realty Investment, Cumine & Co., and others.
As the Shanghai Sunday Times points out in 1935, “this style of architecture has become popular in Shanghai in recent years”:
Address: 326 Panyu Road 番禺路326号. PastVu: https://pastvu.com/p/1902882
In the 1930s decade, new houses in the Spanish style were emerging all throughout the French Concession, the western part of the International Settlement and Hungjao suburb. They are too many to mention; I will only highlight the most unusual ones below.
Two “California-style” apartment buildings on Route Tenant de la Tour, designed by Boris Krivoss is one of the few apartment buildings in this style; another notable example is, of course, Poy Gum Lee’s Cosmopolitan Apartments.
PastVu: https://pastvu.com/p/1640318
Address: 嘉宝公寓 & 秀琦公寓, 625 and 635 Nanchang Road 南昌路625号，南昌路635号. Photo: Jad Arsan.
The aptly named Granada Estates development, on Hungjao (Hongqiao) Road, might have had the largest square area:
Address: Lane 1440 Hongqiao Road 虹桥路1440弄. Photo: internet.
Among the last prewar homes in the Spanish style must be this villa on West Nanjing Road, designed by Nicolas Emanoff in 1941.
Address: 1917 West Nanjing Road 南京西路1917号. PastVu: https://pastvu.com/p/1902926 More info: https://avezink.livejournal.com/233168.html
Address: 1917 West Nanjing Road 南京西路1917号. PastVu: https://pastvu.com/p/1149605
And the last-last-last Spanish house in Shanghai? Possibly, the residence of Shu Zhaoxian, designed by Lan Ronxiang 蓝荣庠 and built in 1948:
In its times as Workers’ Sanatorium in the 1950s. Address: 2558 West Yan'an Road 延安西路2558号. PastVu: https://pastvu.com/p/1152078