Ed last stroke on iconic Bund waterfront
one year after the Capitol Building was launched in February of 1928 in the North Bund area.
Gonda also designed building No. 14 on the Bund, which was the youngest, most simple-cut one among the 23 waterfront buildings along the Bund. It was completed in October 1948 as the new office for the Bank of Communications.
Gonda designed the building in 1937 which unfortunately coincided with the war against the Japanese invaders and thus the construction was postponed until the war was over. The Allied Architects, a famous Chinese architectural firm, revised the original design and finished the construction in 1948.
It’s also a typical Art Deco building with a lot of vertical lines. The facade is symmetrical with its top shaped like a small tower. The external walls are covered by cement. Black marbles are widely used at the entrance hall and the ground floor.
The interior of No.14, here and there, is also a reminder to some of Hudec’s works.
In the entrance hall, two short staircases with copper handrails are arranged in artistic curves. The grand hall on the second floor is more amazing. The nearly 20 tall, square-shaped columns give a feel of a sacred Greek temple with a modern touch. Yellow and black terrazzo are lavishly used to adorn the floor and walls. The architect’s smart use of the simple material has created a strong geometrical effect and demonstrates the Art Deco identity of No. 14.
“We have been very familiar with architect Laszlo Hudec, who was so famous in Shanghai. We also know about Gonda, but there has never been a book that introduces his works systematically. There were not many buildings designed by Gonda in Shanghai, but each one demonstrated his pursuit of modernity and his adept use of the Art Deco style,” Cao Jiaming, chairman of the Architectural Society of Shanghai, said at the book launch.
“Since early last century, many overseas architects left new works in the city which continued to attract famous architects around the world to come after the opening-up policy in 1978 to design new buildings. This phenomenon showed unique Shanghai culture which is open-up and East-meet-West.”
Shanghai Workers’ Union took the Art Deco building at Bund No. 14 as its headquarter office in 1951 and still uses it today.
The building was the last stroke on the iconic waterfront of the Bund. When this Gonda work was completed in 1948, the Bund that we see today finally took its shape.
In the autumn of 1920, young Hungarian architect Karoly Gonda first cast his eyes upon the Bund.
“He had no inkling that one day, one of his buildings would grace this storied avenue. He was just a young man looking to start a new life and build a future in a city that was hurtling headlong into modernity,” as is written in the preface of the book.