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Former homes of celebrities create ‘cultural triangle’
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BA Jin isn’t the only celebrity who lived around Wukang Road. An area known as Hunan Community once boasted the residences of more than 100 celebrities. The community included Wukang, Fuxing and Wuyuan roads.
Earlier this year a plan was issued to open two more celebrity homes and form a “cultural triangle” with Ba’s former residence.
Shanghai Jiao Tong University professor Cao Yongkang has already worked out plans to renovate the former home of cartoonist Zhang Leping on Wuyuan Road and playwright Ke Ling’s Spanish-style villa on Fuxing Road.
According to Cao’s research, Ke’s villa was designed by well-known architect Xi Fuquan, who also designed the home at 4 Wukang Road (B1-3, Shanghai Daily, June 5). Xi studied in Germany and was heavily influenced by the country’s modern architectural movement, including Der Ring.
When the architect returned to China, most of his works were pure modern, such as Hongqiao Sanatorium, regarded as one of the city’s signature buildings.
For this lovely yellow villa built in 1933, he found inspiration from Spain. Spanish-style villas were trendy at the time as they had a pleasing decorative look and cost less compared with British country homes.
Covering an area of 192 square meters, Ke’s former residence occupied the ground two floors and a 150-square-meter garden.
“The façade shows a balanced proportion with delicate architectural details for decoration, such as the refined semi-circular arched door, arched window graced by spiral columns and elegant cast iron embellishment,” Cao says.
“The butter-hued cement stucco walls, the wave-shaped decoration underneath the eaves and red tiles are typical Spanish features,” he adds.
However, this beautiful villa now looks run-down, like many historical residences in the former French concession. Broken water pipes have damaged the walls and floors. Parts of the interior and the garden have been used improperly by later residents.
After studying original blueprints for the home, Cao plans to clean the façade and restore the bedroom, sitting room, study and nanny’s room to their original looks. The interior décor is based on the original furniture.
“The garden is mixed with trees, shrubs and weeds. We will keep the original magnolia tree, Japan allspice and oleander, but will clear out the weeds,” Cao adds.
According to this plan, the ground floor will feature an exhibition hall and souvenir shop. The first floor will be restored to the way it looked when Ke lived in it. The final stop for visitors will be the garden.
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