Shanghai HSBC, the historical standard for the Shanghai area
Jun 23,2023 | Defulin Teak
In the previous article, Defulin has introduced you to many ancient teak buildings. Among them are the ribbon-like Ubon Bridge, the Palace of the Fifth King of Thailand which disappeared in the long history, the Norman Monastery which carries the Buddhist culture, the Peace Hotel which witnessed the vicissitudes of Shanghai, and today, the building we are going to introduce is still in the Bund of Shanghai, that is the Shanghai HSBC Bank Building, which is also the Pudong Development Bank Building today.
Shanghai HSBC Bank Building, designed and built by Gonghe Foreign Bank in 1921, is located at No. 12 Zhongshan East Road 1. The building is made of reinforced concrete, full of both classical beauty and modernity, and carries the core of modern civilization under its historical appearance. It occupies a huge area with a wide frontage, covering an area that is second only to the Bank of Scotland Building in the Far East.
In the middle of the building, above the five floors, there is a two-story tower with a circular roof inspired by the ancient Roman Pantheon, followed by a secondary building for offices, vaults and warehouses. The interior of the building is beautifully decorated and is considered art. Entering through the main door, you are greeted by an octagonal foyer with eight marble pillars that look like pillars of the sky, leading up to the dome, holding up this huge space of 20 meters high. Looking upward along the stone pillars, the mosaic paintings inlaid on the dome are even more mesmerizing, just like looking up to heaven and earth. Looking around, the marble veneer walls show the wealth of the place; and looking down, the teak and Italian marble flooring also speaks of the splendor of the place. Not only the lobby, but also the interior of each room is decorated with teak wood, precious wood with rare stone, together constructing the Shanghai HSBC building, a work of art from the inside out, highlighting the taste and status of this building.
The above is the introduction of the Shanghai HSBC building brought by Defulin, it can be seen that teak has a very high status in the hearts of both Southeast Asian and European people, which has attracted so many luxury buildings to use.