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Motoring glamour in old Shanghai
The most recent batch of photos uploaded to Virtual Shanghai is quite a treat. Someone went around the city between 1930 and 1932 and meticulously photographed car sales offices, showrooms, service stations and garages. The result is a unique collection of little-remembered architecture that lined ordinary streets in the International Settlement ( Read more... ) -
Then and Now: Star Garage on Bubbling Well Road
I never knew that a 1910s building is preserved in the middle of the much-changed West Nanjing Road. The Star Garage on Bubbling Well Road, designed by Abelardo Lafuente's firm now houses the Windows bar.
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Another surviving car service on Avenue Foch
Usually Shanghai offers unpleasant surprises in terms of disappeared historic buildings, but this one is an exception. I did not expect Bills Motors dealership on Avenue Foch to survive to this day, but it has, and with a somewhat changed facade, continues to function in the same capacity. Paul French has a blog entry on Bills Motors and its ( Read more... ) -
Then and Now: Renault Service Station on Avenue Foch
Leafing through the ever-delightful Frenchtown Shanghai by Tess Johnston, I was attracted by the photo of Julien Heimendinger's auto salon on Avenue Foch 627, at the corner of Route Cardinal Mercier. I decided to look it up, fearing it did not survive the construction of the elevated highway in the place of the old Avenue Foch. Luckily, the ( Read more... ) -
German Garden Club before the French Club
Some time ago I wrote about Shanghai's first auto show in Verdun Gardens in December 1921, at the site that corresponds to the territory of the former French Club. Today, while reading the Russian-language guidebook by G. Synnerberg, published in 1919, I was reminded that the site on the north side of Avenue Joffre was originally the territory of ( Read more... )
