Former site of the Army and Navy Department of Qing Dynasty, Military administrative site in Dongcheng District, China

The Former Site of the Army and Navy Department of the Qing Dynasty is a Western-style office complex at 3 Zhang Zizhong Road in Dongcheng, Beijing. Built from 1907 to 1909 to designs by Shen Qi, who studied in England, it has three brick-and-wood buildings on a 10,000-square-metre site. The main gate remains Chinese in style, with a grey-tiled hip-and-gable roof and two 3-metre stone lions.

The site was originally occupied by the Heqin Prince's mansion on the west and the Beizi Feisu mansion on the east. In 1906 the Board of War became the Army Department, which demolished both mansions except the gate and built Western-style office blocks designed by Shen Qi, a returnee from Britain, with the Chinese Construction Company as builder. The main building was finished in 1907 and the Army Nobles' Law School in 1909; after the Navy Department was created in 1910, the school was abolished and its buildings taken over by the navy, both ministries sharing one gate. In 1912 Yuan Shikai used the west courtyard as the presidential office and the east as the State Council; from 1924 it was Duan Qirui's provisional government, and on 18 March 1926 guards fired on demonstrators here, killing 47 in the March 18 Massacre.

The main gate is the only surviving traditional Chinese structure; the rest was rebuilt from 1906 in European classical style by Shen Qi, who had studied in Britain. The gate faces south with five bays under a grey-tiled gable roof, flanked by two 3-metre stone lions, with a brick-carved screen wall across the street.

The site can be explored on foot and much of its Qing-era architecture remains visible. Visitors should allow time to walk through the different areas of the complex and observe the structural layout.

The main gate is still the original Chinese-style structure, five bays wide with a grey-tiled gable roof, flanked by two 3-metre stone lions; across the street stands a brick-carved screen wall. The gate was struck by vehicles three times between 2009 and 2011, each time causing damage.