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Restoration retains original look of seminary
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IN the 19th century, French Jesuits who came to Shanghai built orphanages, schools, seminaries and libraries. They were men of letters and science as well as theology. Today, their imprint on the city’s history remains in the retail and commercial area of Xujiahui.
An old building originally constructed as a seminary and later used as government offices has undergone major renovation and is now reopened to the public as the Xuhui District Hui Exhibition Hall. It sits opposite the tomb park of Xu Guangqi, the scientist-scholar for whom Xujiahui is named.
The classic-style building was erected in 1928 as the Zi-Ka-Wei Major Seminary to train Jesuit priests in an area then controlled by the French.
It was a successor to the 19th-century Jiangnan Seminary, which had moved location in downtown Shanghai several times before settling in Xujiahui in 1877.
The Jesuits purchased a large piece of land between the Xujiahui Observatory and the Tou-Se-We orphanage to construct a seminary complex that trained 300 priests up to the 1940s.
The minor seminary buildings were demolished in 1996 for the expansion of Nandan Road. The major seminary structure survived and was converted into offices for Xuhui District officials.
“When workers were digging the foundations for a new Xuhui administrative office block nearby, the former seminary subsided and severe cracks emerged on the façade,” says Jiang Jiang, deputy director of Xuhui District Housing Security and Building Administration Bureau.
“So we decided to rescue the building and restore it,” he says. “District officials came up with the idea of opening the ground floor as a public exhibition hall, while retaining the upper three floors as administrative offices, just like many municipal halls in some Western countries.”
It was a somewhat daring concept in China to combine a government building with a public hall.
“As one of Xujiahui’s signature historical buildings, it really is a proper place to display the history and development of the area,” Jiang says.
It was also challenging to try to preserve the building’s original look of a seminary.
Shanghai architect Shen Xiaoming was commissioned to do the project in 2013. The original façade of the building had been painted over in layers of white, obscuring many architectural details. The Baroque gable and the chimneys were missing. The dormers were in disarray. Successive edifices, often tacky, obliterated the original structure.
“The building looked like one of those European-style real estate projects that were so popular in China in the 1990s,” Shen says. “So I began studying historical photos and original drawings of the building to ascertain how it once looked.”
His research showed that 90 percent of the original building had survived. Shen discovered the foundation stone, original mosaics concealed under unsightly tiles and the true colors of the windows, made with bygone craftsmen’s skills.
“Yellow concrete imported from the US was mingled with yellow sand and stones, combined with a bit of composite mortar as decorative plaster,” Shen says. “The proportion of concrete over lime was greater on the walls, but there was more lime on the window frames, which appeared to be whiter while the walls were yellowish.”
The architect also restored fireplaces and the architraves, or main beams across the tops of columns. The biggest job, he says, was re-creating the former chapel, which had had mezzanines added to increase space.
“We had to choose which was more important: space or retaining the original look,” Shen says. “We finally chose to remove the mezzanines. Now it’s a grand hall for hosting events and seminars.”
When the renovated chapel was unveiled several months ago, distinguished Chinese and Western guests were invited to a seminar on Xu Guangqi. They applauded the restoration in speeches given at the event.
“We made great efforts to restore the building to its original look,” says Jiang. “We will never know if we got it completely right because the old photos are so vague and we don’t have craftsmen who can replicate old-style artisan skills.”
The hall now displays bits and pieces of history from the area, including copper locks, mosaic tiles and terrazzo from old French Quarter garden villas.
“I plan to establish a data base of historical architectural materials so that researchers can analyze the composition of these beautiful, high-quality materials that have survived time,” he says. “Understanding the craftsmanship of previous eras will improve our expertise in restoring historical buildings.”
Today, the exhibition hall also displays the history of Xujiahui dating back to the 19th century.
Shen says it is important for people to understand their origins.
“If you don’t enter a historical building, you can never imagine the life and the people who came before you,” he says. “But if you walk into a building like this, you can experience the past personally. This is a big step forward in heritage preservation.
“History may be abstract, but architecture is solid. When the two mix, the result is overwhelming.”
Xuhui District Hui exhibition hall
Yesterday: The Major Seminary
Today: Xuhui District Hui Exhibition Hall
Style: Classical
Address: 40 Nandan Rd
Opening hours: 9am-4:30pm on weekends and national holidays
Admission: Free
Tips: If you are a big fan of old houses, visit the building to admire a rainbow of original copper locks, mosaic tiles, terrazzo and pantiles from old French Quarter garden villas. There are photos explaining which pieces are from which villa.
Next building
Xujiahui Observatory
July 29
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