大桥大楼, Historic apartment building in Hongkou, Shanghai, China
Daqiao Dalou, originally Daqiao Gongyu, is a seven-storey reinforced-concrete apartment block at 85 Sichuan North Road in Hongkou, Shanghai. Built in 1935 by the Renchang construction firm, it is mainly Modernist with Art Deco details such as the handrails and lobby floor tiles. Its plan forms an L, with two-room flats on the south side and three-room flats on the east, and the southeast corners are rounded inside and out.
Built in 1935 by the Renchang Construction Company on the site of the former Qingyunli shikumen lanes, the seven-storey reinforced-concrete block was first a modern apartment house. From August 1937 the Japanese military police used it as its Shanghai headquarters, adding a ground-floor detention centre. In 1947 the military sold it to the Bank of China, which converted it into staff housing.
The name Daqiao Gongyu comes from its main entrance facing the Sichuan Road Bridge at the south end of Sichuan North Road. The building was originally a seven-storey apartment block with 123 suites, each fitted with gas, heating and bathroom facilities. Since 2013 the Hongkou district government has carried out protective restoration work on the structure.
The building stands at 85 Sichuan North Road, its main entrance facing the Sichuan Road Bridge to the south. Two elevators and a deep-well pump serve the seven floors. The central parking area has been converted into a school playground, and the southern west side is used by Chongming Road Primary School, so those parts are not open to casual visitors.
The building's southeast corners, both inside and out, are rounded rather than square, a detail of its 1930s modernist design that is easy to miss from the street. Its stair handrails and lobby floor tiles carry Art Deco ornament, contrasting with the plain concrete facade.
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