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The North China Daily News Building () is a historical Neo-Renaissance-style office building on the Bund in Shanghai, China located at No.17, The Bund. It houses the offices of the American International Assurance (AIA), and is thus often called the AIA Building (). At the time of its opening in 1924, it was the tallest building in Shanghai.
"The Bund – Picture Guide to Historic Buildings"
The University of Maine. 2007. Retrieved 22 September 2012.
page including historical and contemporary photographs at Chinese-Architecture.info
Collection of high-resolution photographs of historic buildings in Shanghai
{{Shanghai Bund Buildings and structures in Shanghai Landmarks in Shanghai Newspaper headquarters Office buildings completed in 1924 The Bund 1924 establishments in China
The North China Daily News Building () is a historical Neo-Renaissance-style office building on the Bund in Shanghai, China located at No.17, The Bund. It houses the offices of the American International Assurance (AIA), and is thus often called the AIA Building (). At the time of its opening in 1924, it was the tallest building in Shanghai.
History
The ''North China Daily News
The ''North China Daily News'' (in Chinese: ''Zilin Xibao''), was an English-language newspaper in Shanghai, China, called the most influential foreign newspaper of its time.
History
The paper was founded as the weekly ''North-China Herald'' ( ...
'' was the first English-language newspaper to be published in Shanghai, in 1850. Because the newspaper's founder saw Shanghai as a growing commercial center and founded the paper to support Shanghai's growth, much of its original content was related to shipping news. The paper expanded as Shanghai grew, and moved to the Bund in 1901. In 1921 the paper began construction of this building as its new headquarters, and completed construction in 1924.Shea (2007)
The building was designed by architects , which was co-founded by Gordon Morriss, the brother of the newspaper's owner at the time, Henry E. Morriss
Henry may refer to:
People
*Henry (given name)
*Henry (surname)
* Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry
Royalty
* Portuguese royalty
** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal
** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...
. From 1927 the building also housed the offices of American Asiatic Underwriters, an insurance agency founded by Cornelius Vander Starr and the forerunner of the American International Group (AIG). The Japanese Empire
The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II 1947 constitution and subsequent forma ...
confiscated the building during its occupation of Shanghai during the World War II. During that time the building was home to the ''Tairiku Shimpō'' (), a Japanese newspaper.
After World War II the North China Daily News returned to the building, and the paper continued to operate until 1951, shortly after the founding of the People's Republic of China. The building was then confiscated and used by the Chinese government as a branch for various government offices at various times. In 1996 the building was restored, and in 1998 it became the Shanghai branch of AIA Group Limited. AIA was a subsidiary of American International Group (AIG), which is a successor company of the American Asiatic Underwriters, who occupied part of the building in the early twentieth century.
Design
The North China Daily News Building is areinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete (RC), also called reinforced cement concrete (RCC) and ferroconcrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having hig ...
structure with Baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
towers, Neoclassical pillars, and Renaissance relief sculpture. The first seven floors are faced with granite, the lowest two floors of which are rough hewn. The building originally incorporated the statues of two goddesses, which flanked the marble entrance, but these statues were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. The building contains of office space, and lies on a plot of land.
References
Bibliography
* Shea, Marilyn"The Bund – Picture Guide to Historic Buildings"
The University of Maine. 2007. Retrieved 22 September 2012.
External links
page including historical and contemporary photographs at Chinese-Architecture.info
Collection of high-resolution photographs of historic buildings in Shanghai
{{Shanghai Bund Buildings and structures in Shanghai Landmarks in Shanghai Newspaper headquarters Office buildings completed in 1924 The Bund 1924 establishments in China