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Some Posts on Columbia Road, Columbia Circle and Amherst Road – I – Hudec’s House

Posted: May 17th, 2010 | 1 Comment »

This is the first in a series of a few posts about the Amherst Road (Xinhua Road), Columbia Road (Panyu Road) and Columbia Circle (various lanes off Amherst Avenue) area of western Shanghai in what was known as the External Roads, or Western Roads, Area just beyond the International Settlement and Frenchtown but where many foreigners and wealthier Chinese lived. I happen to live in the area now so it was of interest to me and so decided to explore it in a little more detail with two other old Shanghailander aficionados Duncan Hewitt (who has written extensively and skillfully on contemporary Shanghai but enjoys a trawl through history too) and Bill Savadove (who is on the track of his relatives who once lived in Columbia Circle).

Sometimes when you go strolling you get lucky – and we did when we revisited the former residence of the architect Lazlo (or Laudislaus or various other spellings) Hudec recently. This building lies just behind a rather over pricey Italian themed hotel and restaurant up the side alley. We’d all visited before and found the house in a poor state of repair but lived in. Now it is in a chronic state of disrepair and about to be ‘refurbished’, a word to strike terror into the hearts of many in Shanghai. We pulled the old trick of arriving at lunchtime – every building guard who’d shoo you away has to have lunch so it’s the best time to go. A couple of women from Anhui were living there prior to the wreckers moving in and invited us in for a look around generously – an offer we certainly took them up on.

First some shots of the rather dilapidated exterior:

Hudec House - Panyu Lu - March 2010 - 2

The main entrance

Hudec House - Panyu Lu - March 2010 - 5

The front of house side on

Hudec House - Panyu Lu - March 2010 - 7

rear courtyard

Hudec House - Panyu Lu - March 2010 - 19

rear courtyard doorway and porch

However, the interior is in a serious state of dilapidation with no restoration looking likely. Here’s some internal shots of the house:

Hudec House - Panyu Lu - March 2010 - 12

The downstairs living room

Hudec House - Panyu Lu - March 2010 - 13

hallway

Hudec House - Panyu Lu - March 2010 - 14

upstairs roof timbering in fairly poor condition

Finally, a few seemingly original features that still remain:

Hudec House - Panyu Lu - March 2010 - 16

ceiling decoration – downstairs living room

Hudec House tiled floor - Panyu Lu - March 2010 - 8

downstairs hallway mosaic floor tiling

Hudec House gutter - Panyu Lu - March 2010 - 3

external guttering – badly corroded


One Comment on “Some Posts on Columbia Road, Columbia Circle and Amherst Road – I – Hudec’s House”

  1. 1 lovegeo said at 1:03 pm on May 22nd, 2010:

    I am glad to see these interior scenes. This uesd to be the servant room of Hudec’s house. One years ago I had a little investigation on hudec’s house, but the women seemed not to make me enter into the room..Some photos see:
    http://www.douban.com/note/37541082/
    http://www.douban.com/note/43937452/


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