THE former Foreign YMCA building opened in the summer of 1928 opposite Shanghai Race Course, today’s People Square. Since then the building has always been linked with sporting activities and later became “a cradle of world champions.”

“The building was constructed to provide accommodation and recreation for foreign young men in Shanghai,” says Zhang Yaojun, a Shanghai Archives Bureau researcher.

“The spacious edifice boasted one of the city’s earliest swimming pools with warm water. Even Chairman Mao enjoyed swimming here twice during the 1950s. In addition, its well-equipped basketball yard was a center of Shanghai basketball games. Many important matches were hosted here,” Zhang adds.

The idea of building this magnificent building originated in 1920 when a group of leading men in the city discussed the formation of a Foreign Young Men’s Christian Association in Shanghai.

The history of the YMCA dates back to 1844 when Englishman George Williams founded the international organization. In 1900 a Chinese YMCA was found in Shanghai and a modern building with Chinese elements was also built on the People’s Square, which is today’s Jinjiang Metropolo Hotel Classiq.

In an article in The China Weekly Review on March 24, 1928, the then Foreign YMCA general secretary George Fitch recalled it was to provide “a home for men away from home” and “a place where young men of various Western nations could meet and mingle in wholesome fellowship and where they could live comfortably in attractive surroundings at a cost of what would be within the reach of all.”

With generous contributions from both New York and Shanghai, the idea turned into reality — a fire-proof building designed by American architect Elliott Hazzard.

Heading an influential architectural office in Shanghai in the late 1920s and early 1930s, Hazzard designed three other buildings along Nanjing Road, including the Wing On Tower, Shanghai Power Company and the adjacent China United Assurance Building. The latter and the Foreign YMCA building had dominated the skyline of the former Race Course before the erection of the Park Hotel in 1934.

The 10-floor Foreign YMCA Building in Italian Renaissance style was described by local media as a wonder building “as modern as science and money can make it.”

“The rusticated walls of the lower story on the southern facade were in a diaper pattern of brown and rich buff and cream brick set to an effective and pleasing design. These three lower stories blend well with the buffs and the browns and form a pleasing contrast to buildings of drab coloring. The walls have been broken up by bringing out piers between windows and at the corners which carried right up to the red-tile caps. The piers at the corners are buttressed slightly and the effect secured adds greatly to the charm of the building,” the China Press reported on June 30, 1928.

In the eyes of this reporter from the American newspaper, it was the triple entrance on Bubbling Well Road (today’s Nanjing Road W.) with its three tall and deeply recessed windows above separated by two pairs of slender and graceful columns that gave significance to the architecture of the building among the many details.

Ellen Johnston Laing, a researcher from Michigan State University, noted the drape pattern was a treatment formerly used on the famous Palazzo Ducale di Venezia. In a study about architect Elliott Hazzard, she wrote that this decorative, very special treatment on the facade was rarely seen in Shanghai. Hazzard used it again in the Xinguang Theater on Ningbo Road two years later.

And the interior of the building was in keeping with its exterior which was not only attractive but also rather functional. Although an institution with a religious background, both the Chinese YMCA and the Foreign YMCA carried out various activities focusing on young people including sports activities and informative lectures.

The building provided centrally heated, fully furnished rooms with plenty of light and air, a gymnasium, a swimming pool, running track, bowling alley, good meals, club rooms, dressing rooms, special courses of study, facilities for research work, extension lectures and the like.

In all rooms, filtered water from the faucet was available. During the heat of summer the water was first sent through a large cooling coil. Fountains in the corners of the gymnasium provided refreshment for athletes.

During World War II, the building was occupied by the Japanese army and in 1950 it was taken over by the Shanghai government. The then mayor, Chen Yi, assigned the building to Shanghai Sports Bureau, which opened the Shanghai Sports Club here in 1957 to organize start-up sports classes to select and train future athletes from local children and youngsters.

“Since then it became ‘a cradle of world champions.’ A galaxy of Chinese stars, including swimmer Yang Wenyi and the go player Chang Hao, started their careers as amateurs at the Shanghai Sports Club. We celebrated the 60 years’ anniversary last year,” says Liang Ligang, club director.

Today, much of the original exterior and interior has remained as on the opening day 90 years ago, such as the diaper patterns on the facade, the triple entrance, the beautiful arches, the dark-wood library and the swimming pool still with warm water in winter and largely graced by delicate old mosaics.

“The building was well preserved because it has always been used by Shanghai Sports Bureau since 1950. From the bureau leaders to every staff member, we have deep feelings for this well-designed historical building. Some old staff recalled the ventilation was so good that air conditioners were not necessary in hot days. There was constantly the sound of wind blowing doors to close,” says Liang.

Today, part of the second floor is open to the public as an exhibition room of Shanghai Sports Museum. The history of the Olympic Games and Chinese participation is showcased. Olympic gold medals and huge pictures of smiling Chinese champions who had their first training here glisten under the gorgeous ceiling of this wonder building.