ON THE BUND

From the Huangpu Park turn the Bank of Indochina (built in 1914), the Glen Line Building (1922), the Matheson Garden (the first to settle in Shanghai in 1848, the Neoclassical building dates back to 1920), the Yangtze Building (a building building built in 1916), the old Yokohama Bank in a neoclassical style enhanced by details of the Banque. Asian art built in 1924. Separated by an alley of the famous Peace Hotel, at No. 23 of the Zhongshan Dongyilu, the Bank of China, built in 1937 by a famous Chinese architect on the site of the Baroque building of the ancient German Club, requisitioned as a result of the Treaty of Versailles, reflected by its intriguing modernity.

The Peace Hotel, a landmark of the skyline skyline, was the seat of the Sassoon family. Victor Sassoon, one of the richest foreigners in Shanghai at the time, the Iraqi Jewish tycoon, had made fortune in opium and weapons.

Founded in 1929 by the famous design firm of Hong Kong, Palmer & Turner, the building included offices and commercial agencies on the ground floor, a hotel with extravagant rooms on the floors, and relaxation and leisure spaces in the upper floors (restaurants, bars, terrace). The businessman housed in the last three floors and had a balcony with a magnificent view of the Huangpu. Today, the Peace Hotel is in full renovation and closed to the public for some time. The exterior of the building with pollution needs good cosmetic. The interior, however, still retains very beautiful Art Deco ornaments: hopefully they will be kept by the new owners of the places, allegedly Saudi investors.

If you pass Nanjing Lu, the former Palace Hotel (now the South Wing of Peace), designed by two British architects in 1906, is one of the oldest Bund buildings. To build it, we used modern methods (steel structure), we installed the first elevator of the city (20 years later, when Shanghai fell under the onslaught of Communist troops, it stir the curiosity of the troops who had never seen it, no more than toilets). Further afield, the fortified building of two turrets was the former headquarters of Shanghai's first foreign newspaper, the North China Daily News.

The Customs House (Customs House), characterized by its Clock Tower, reflects a massive Art Deco architecture dating back to 1927. On the left, the famous Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank, a stately structure culminating in a central dome, was Asia's largest banking building at the time. The building, along with all the Bund buildings, was the work of the famous Palmer & Turner firm (already cited above).

To the south, in the centre of the Quai de France, is the Maritime courier building, a Art Deco structure, where the flow of the company's luxurious ships was managed. A raised walk replaces the ground where eye, croisant rickshaws, went back between commercial warehouses and ships at dockside. The latter, moored along the Bund until the early 1990 s, were displaced. A dike was built to control the waters of the river. The mythical British public gardens were installed in the present Huangpu Park.