The Russo-Chinese Bank Building (), later known as the Central Bank Building () is a historical building on

the Bund The Bund 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 Shanghai International Settlement, which runs along the wester ...

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

, China.

Location and history

The St. Petersburg based Russo-Chinese Bank opened its branch in Shanghai on 13 February 1896 within No. 29 on

, where the Banque de l'Indochine's building (completed in 1914) now stands. In 1899, the bank purchased lot No.15, after its previous owner

Dent & Co Dent & Co. or Dent's was one of the wealthiest British merchant firms, or Hong (business), ''hongs'', active in China during the 19th century. A direct rival to History of Jardine, Matheson & Co., Jardine, Matheson & Co, together with Russel ...

went bankrupt. The site of a size of 1460 square metres. The present three-storey building on the site was then constructed. The building was designed in Italian Renaissance style by the German architect Heinrich Becker, assisted by Yokohama-based German architect Richard Seel, after winning an open competition for the building's design. The building is of a brick and concrete composite structure and has a floor area of 5018 square metres. The building was completed and opened on 26 October 1902. It aroused much controversy over the foreign community in Shanghai at the time of its completion as being out of place amidst the other buildings on the bund. Nonetheless, as it turned out, the building was to set the trend for modern European style buildings which would later emerge along the entire waterfront. The building possessed some of the state-of-the-art equipments available back then. It had its own

electric generator In electricity generation, a generator, also called an ''electric generator'', ''electrical generator'', and ''electromagnetic generator'' is an electromechanical device that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy for use in an externa ...

and is one of the first buildings in China to be equipped with an elevator. It was fully heated with hot air pipes and every single desk was served by two electric fans and two electric lights. In 1917, after the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

, the bank was

nationalized Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization contrasts with priv ...

and much of the managers of the bank in Shanghai fled to France. In 1926 the bank went bankrupt and was purchased by the newly founded Central Bank of China and this building become the headquarters of the Central Bank on 1 November 1928. After the establishment of the People's Republic of China, the building was used for numerous other firms and organizations including the Aviation Authority and the Light Industry Bureau of Shanghai. After 1994, the building became the Shanghai Foreign Exchange Trading Center.

References

External links

The Bund

More high-resolution photographs of historic Shanghai architecture
{{coord, 31.2396, 121.4853, type:landmark_region:CN, display=title Buildings and structures in Shanghai The Bund