Union Building, Renaissance Revival bank building in Huangpu District, China

The Union Building stands at No. 3 on the Bund, at the corner of Guangdong Road, in Shanghai. The six-storey building has a symmetrical Neo-Renaissance facade with Baroque details, a rusticated lower section and a domed corner pavilion topped by a small dome and mast. Because the Bund frontage is narrow, the main entrance opens on Guangdong Road.

The Union Building was completed in 1916 on land at No. 4 the Bund leased from the British firm Dodwell & Co. The Canton-based Union Insurance Society of Canton commissioned it, and the young Hong Kong firm Palmer & Turner, later P&T Architects, designed it as its first Shanghai project; the contractor was Yuchangtai. In 1937 frozen insurance assets let the Union Bank of India buy the building for £80,000; it left in 1949, and from 1953 the Shanghai Civil Architecture and Design Institute occupied it.

The name Union Building comes from the Union Insurance Society of Canton, the original investor; the Chinese name 友宁大楼 combines a transliteration with a wish for peace, fitting an insurer. After the Union Bank moved in, locals called it 有利大楼. Look for Ionic columns flanking the doors and a Baroque shield above the main entrance.

The main entrance is on Guangdong Road, not the Bund, because the Bund frontage is narrow. The building stands at the corner of No. 3 Zhongshan East First Road and Guangdong Road. Visitors can walk the surrounding Bund sidewalks to see the facade and domed corner tower.

The building was among the first in Shanghai to use a modern steel-frame construction, making it possible to build taller and more complex structures. This technical innovation fundamentally changed how architects approached construction in the following decades.