The Asia Building (), also known as the McBain Building and the Asiatic Petroleum Building, is a historical eight-storey building on

the Bund The Bund or Waitan (, Shanghainese romanization: ''Nga3thae1'', , ) is a waterfront area and a protected historical district in central Shanghai. The area centers on a section of Zhongshan Road (East Zhongshan Road No.1) within the former Shang ...

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

, China.

Site and construction

The building was built in 1916 as McBain Building on the corner of

(currently 1 East-1 Zhongshan Road) and

Avenue Edward VII Yan'an Road (; Shanghainese: Yi'ue Lu) is a road in Shanghai, a major east–west thoroughfare through the centre of the city. The modern Yan'an Road is in three sections, reflecting three connected streets which existed pre-1945: Avenue Edward ...

(today's East Yan'an Road), a location known as No.1 on the Bund, near the former

French Concession The Shanghai French Concession; ; Shanghainese pronunciation: ''Zånhae Fah Tsuka'', group=lower-alpha was a foreign concession in Shanghai, China from 1849 until 1943, which progressively expanded in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Th ...

. It stands on a site of 1739 square metres and has a floor area of 11,723 square metres. It was the tallest and one of the largest buildings in Shanghai upon its completion. This fact, adding to its location, earned it a widespread nickname 'Number One Building on the Bund' (外滩第一楼). The building was designed by Moorhead＆Halse, a famous architectural firm in Shanghai back then and built by contractor Yu Chang Tai. Initially the building was seven stories tall; an extra storey was added in 1939.

History

The lot of the building originally belonged two British brothers James and Hayes Hogg, whose trading company Hogg Brothers opened in Shanghai in 1861. In 1899 the brothers decided to close their business in Shanghai and return to Britain. They sold the property to British merchant George McBain, whose company constructed this current building after demolishing an original house on the site. In 1917, one year after its completion the Royal Dutch Shell's Asiatic Petroleum division, which sold kerosene and candles used for lighting before electric lights were invented, bought in much of the building and renamed it the Asia Building. During the

Japanese occupation of Shanghai The history of Shanghai spans over a thousand years and closely parallels the development of modern China. Originally a small agricultural village, Shanghai developed during the late Qing dynasty (1644–1912) as one of China's principal trad ...

the building was taken over by the Japanese and most of the staff, mainly British, fled Shanghai and relocated in

Chongqing Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Romanization, alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a Direct-administered municipalities of China, municipality in Southwes ...

. The majority of them returned to Shanghai and continued working in the building after the occupation while the company's profits soared to unprecedented levels. After the People's Republic of China was established, some branches of the company in China closed down, only some 50 employees remained in Shanghai. The East China Petroleum Company took control of the building in 1950. A number of other occupants including the Shanghai Metallurgical Designing & Research Institute, Shanghai housing & land administration bureau and Shanghai Silk Company moved in 1959. The Asiatic Petroleum division of Royal Dutch Shell finally ceased operation in the building in 1966, after which the Shanghai Real Estate Department took the building's control. Two shell-shaped ornaments of the Royal Dutch were removed from a column of the building's façade and relocated to its

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

Yuanmingyuan The Old Summer Palace, also known as Yuanmingyuan () or Yuanmingyuan Park, originally called the Imperial Gardens (), and sometimes called the Winter Palace, was a complex of palaces and gardens in present-day Haidian District, Beijing, China. I ...

office when the company left, now being displayed at the

Shanghai History Museum The Shanghai History Museum (), or Shanghai Revolution History Museum, is a museum dedicated to the history of the city of Shanghai, China. The museum's collections focus on the approximately a hundred years in the history of Shanghai from the o ...

. The building became the headquarters of the

China Pacific Insurance Company China Pacific Insurance (Group) Co., Ltd. (CPIC) known as Pacific Insurance, is a Chinese insurance company. It was established on the basis of the former China Pacific Insurance Corporation, which was founded in 1991 approved by the People's Ban ...

in 1996 but as of today the building is largely empty. In December 2021,

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is ...

announced its moving to BUND One as the new headquarter in Shanghai. On March 1, 2022, Christie's Shanghai will hold its first auction at the place.

References

The Bund

External links

{{coord, 31, 14, 00, N, 121, 29, 28, E, region:CN-31_type:landmark, display=title Buildings and structures completed in 1916 Buildings and structures in Shanghai Shell plc buildings and structures The Bund 1916 establishments in China