SHANGHAI MOORISH ARCHITECTURE

As it is mostly known, the XX Century in Shanghai was a golden age for architecture heritage in Shanghai. From the 1920s to the 1940s,?Shanghai?was the stage where East and West met in terms of fashion and architecture.

?Shanghai Bund - Source Lonely Planet

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Styles from all over the world converged and coexisted in the new blank canvas that the vibrant city was offering to these new designers.

The new styles were merely represented by the Art Deco, present in almost every corner of Shanghai’s downtown preserved areas.

Nobody could suspect that among all those heritage pieces we could find some Moorish reminiscent pieces introduced by some Spanish architect in the last century.

?In the year 2009, the Spanish architect Alvaro Leonardo?discovered the footprints and clues about the presence of Spanish architect Abelardo Lafuente, who lived in Shanghai in the early 20th Century. With the help of the Spanish Cervantes Institute, he investigated the figure of this anonymous architect and his legacy in the city.

Abelardo Lafuente - Source Metalocus

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The architect left a remarkable legacy with works as Shasha’s Mansion or Hongkou Cinema, which became the first cinema in Continental China.

Among all the architecture pieces left by Lafuente, one building outstood beyond the traditions and the styles that were reproduced in Shanghai at those times.

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SHANGHAI ALHAMBRA

H.H. Kung Mansion, 250 Duolun Road (多伦路250号)

As a personal reinterpretation of the Mozarab style, Lafuente designed a new residence for the Spanish movie tycoon Antonio Ramos in 1924. The construction became an architecture experiment that blended Mozarab and Morrish styles, known soon as the Shanghai Alhambra, and a resemblance of the businessman origins from the city of Granada in Spain.

Ramos Mansion - Source Plataforma Arquitectura

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The villa was commissioned by Antonio Ramos and finished in the year 1924. The villa was decorated in Spanish style, with typical Moorish-style motifs, carved windows and other elements of Spanish Style influence.

After the villa was bought by H.H. Kung, the richest man in China in 1945, the building adopted the mane of his new owner until our days.

Located in the intersection between Duolun Road and Sichuan North Road, the construction is a four buildings construction with each piece connected. Each of the 4-story independent buildings has the main door on Sichuan Road and a total of 2 rooms.

250 Duolun Road Shanghai - Source Wikimedia Commons

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Today, each one of the buildings of the complex is occupied independently and protected by local heritage authorities, emerging as a unique piece of Moorish architecture in the city.

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SHANGHAI HUXI MOSQUE

No. 3, Lane 1328, Changde Road (常德路1328弄4号)

Huxi Mosque is historically the important mosque in Shanghai. Located on Changde Road, this religious building with its peculiar white dome was the first mosque in Shanghai to be renovated and to resume activities after the People’s Republic of China was founded.

The mosque was originally erected at Xikang Road in 1922 under the name of Yaoshuinong Mosque. After a renovation and extension in 1935, the mosque resumed its religious activities in 1979 and moved to the present location in 1994, where it can be found today.

?Huxi Mosque - Source Smart Shanghai

Although the mosque cannot be considered a heritage piece, some peculiar elements make this building outstand from the surroundings.

?The mosque consists of a double-floor prayer hall, built with double arches and a fan-shaped roof.?The general mosque construction structure consists of one minaret with a height of 25 meters and 6 domes.

?Huxi Mosque - Source Wikipedia

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But what makes this building special, apart from the white-coated walls and the golden domes is the atmosphere around. The surrounding streets hold Shanghai’s largest Muslim bazaar, full of kiosks and restaurants.

A new place to live and experience the cultural richness of this vibrant city.

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