The Great Northern Telegraph Company Building is the current building at No. 7, Zhongshan East Road, which is open to the public every Saturday and Sunday. There are also many places worth checking in within the building. There are also check-in points nearby, such as the Shanghai Municipal Federation of Trade Unions and the Shanghai Brush and Ink Museum. For details, see below.
Some say that the Bund is the eyes of Shanghai, the business card of Shanghai. Today, on the Bund, there is such a building, its elegant and beautiful posture, peaceful and profound charm, all demonstrate the extraordinary identity of the owner of this building. This is a building with close ties to telegrams, witnessing the long journey of China’s telegraph industry from wired to wireless, from manual to automatic. Today we will learn about the Great Northern Telegraph Company Building at No. 7, Zhongshan East Road…
The Building Itself
No. 7, Zhongshan East Road, was originally the Great Northern Telegraph Company Building, designed by the British Tonghe Trading Company, and completed in 1908. It has five floors, a brick-concrete structure, covers an area of 1562㎡, with a building area of about 4060㎡. In 1882, the “Great Northern Telegraph Company”, jointly established by the three telegraph companies of Denmark, Norway and Britain, Denmark and Russia, and Britain and Norway, established the first telephone exchange in Shanghai here. After being renovated in 1994, the building was used for the operation and office of Bank of Pan-Asia, with the ground floor as the bank’s business hall and the second to fifth floors as offices.
The Great Northern Telegraph Company Building is in the style of the late French Renaissance, abandoning overly complex textures and decorations, simplifying lines, making it more concise and pure. The bottom two floors of the façade are clad in stone, while the upper floors are uniformly clad in water-washed stone. The building uses the front entrance on Aidoia Road as the longitudinal axis, forming symmetry on both sides. The entire building is divided into three different horizontal facades from the first to the second floor, the third to the sixth floor, and the seventh floor and above. The exterior walls are faced with smooth stone, and form a building appearance with horizontal lines as the main feature, making the entire building appear elegant, symmetrical, coordinated, and stable.
The lobby of the Great Northern Telegraph Company Building adopts the main colors commonly seen in the European style, such as gold, yellow, and dark red, blended with white, making the colors appear bright and generous. The entire interior space gives people a feeling of openness and tolerance, without feeling cramped at all. And some Celtic patterns, patterns and Viking decorative symbols, exudes a strong Nordic flavor, showing that this was once owned by a Danish company.
Among the group of buildings on the Bund, the Great Northern Telegraph Company Building is small in size but unique in style. The highlight of the building is the design of two black dome roofs with Rococo art style at both ends of the top, which forms a strong contrast and distinct contrast with the white wall. This has also become a landmark decoration of the building.
In November 1996, the Great Northern Telegraph Company Building was announced as a national key cultural relic protection unit as a part of the Bund architectural group.
Renovation of the Building
In 1994, the Great Northern Telegraph Company Building was subjected to protective renovation and internal equipment upgrades. The building is brick-concrete structure, floor, and partial roof is wood structure. Among them, the wood structure components on the top floor were severely damaged, the end of the wall had already rotted; the brick walls were in a damp state for a long time, resulting in surface stains; the aging of the building resulted in damage to some masonry structures, and there were many vertical cracks in the brick walls; the internal structure of the building did not meet the current seismic construction requirements.
Adhering to the principle of coexistence of protection and authenticity, the renovation team replaced the damaged structural components, carried out seismic reinforcement, and combined the original interior style to carry out interior design.
The exterior facade renovation uses crystal clear exterior wall paint to paint the walls, the exterior windows of the facade are replaced with black aluminum alloy windows according to the original style, the wooden railings are replaced and refurbished, and stainless steel flagpoles and light boxes are added to the main facade and entrance of the building. In addition, the main entrance door and the north gate were designed with cast copper floral glass doors according to the Pan-Asia Bank logo, and the two window positions on the north facade were adjusted. The roof of the building (fifth floor) was partially rebuilt and rebuilt in the middle, using core board to make a black iron sheet inclined roof, and the external windows are made in the style of dormer windows.
In addition, the renovation team enhanced the overall rigidity of the building, which is beneficial for earthquake resistance and prevents uneven settlement; the wooden components of the building were treated with anti-corrosion, and the damaged walls were re-made with a moisture-proof layer; smoke detectors and sprinklers were added.
After this renovation, the exterior facade of the building has been protected and renovated, the newly designed gate and the interior decoration design of the building are coordinated with the historical style. Seismic performance of the building has been improved in structural renovations.
Building Story
In China, Shanghai was the first city to open telegram services to the public. In 1869, the Danish Great Northern Telegraph Company was jointly formed by the Danish, Norwegian and British Telegraph Company, the Danish and Russian Telegraph Company, and the Norwegian and British Telegraph Company, with its headquarters in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark. In 1871, the Great Northern Telegraph Company successfully laid an undersea cable from Hong Kong, via Dazhi Mountain Island at the mouth of the Yangtze River, to Shanghai and Nagasaki, Japan, and officially opened telegraph services on the Bund on April 18 of the same year.
With the introduction of foreign telegraph technology in 1947, the Shanghai City Directory of Businesses, Chinese people gradually realized the importance of telegraph communication, including the Westernization faction led by Li Hongzhang. On September 16, 1880, he personally wrote “Please set up North and South Yangtze Telegraph”, and submitted it to the Qing government, which was approved two days later. On December 28, 1881, the 1500-kilometer Tianjin-Shanghai telegraph line was officially completed and opened to the public. This was China’s first self-built and operated public telegraph circuit, marking the beginning of Shanghai’s self-operated telecommunications industry, and also the beginning of Chinese people’s control over telecommunications sovereignty on their own territory. From then on, China’s telegraph industry entered a new period of rapid development.
At the beginning of the 20th century, with the expansion of its business, the Great Northern Telegraph Company’s original leased office space at No. 7, the Bund, was no longer sufficient. In 1918, it invested 218,000 taels of silver to buy the land at No. 4, Aidoia Road (now No. 34, East Yan’an Road), preparing to build its own new telegraph office building. At that time, the telegraph industry was still a relatively new product in the world, so the Great Northern Telegraph Company chose the old-brand firm, New Ruihe Trading Company, which pursued avant-garde spirit, to design and build the building.
After the building was completed, in addition to the Great Northern Telegraph Company’s own use, some floors were leased to the British Great Eastern Telegraph Company and the American Pacific Telegraph Company. This building also became a veritable “Telegraph Bureau Building”. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, as the three telegraph companies successively moved abroad, government agencies such as the Shanghai Municipal Urban Transportation Management Bureau, the Shanghai Municipal Public Utilities Bureau, and the Shanghai Red Cross Society successively moved into the building for office purposes. Entering the 21st century, in order to better protect this excellent historical building and fully tell the history of Shanghai’s telecommunications industry development, China Telecom Shanghai Company rebuilt the first to fourth floors of the building into the Shanghai Telecom Museum, which officially opened on June 23, 2010.
Check-in Points in the Building
Edward · Swensen Statue
The first thing you will see when entering the building is the statue of Edward · Swensen at the entrance. He was not only the first general manager of the Great Northern Telegraph, but also helped compile the Chinese character telegraph code book “New Book of Telegraphs”, so he was known as “the Dane who introduced telegraphs to China”. In the 1960s, the statue was transported back to Denmark along with the Great Northern Telegraph Company when it left Shanghai. After going through half a century, it was re-placed in its original niche in June 2011 as a gift from the Great Northern Telegraph Company to the Shanghai Telecom Museum.
Man-bodied Bird-winged Statue
This man-bodied bird-winged logo originated from Garuda, the mount of Vishnu, one of the main Hindu gods. It is also the image of the Thai national emblem. The Thai royal family often awarded this logo as a great honor to outstanding companies. Bank of Pan-Asia, founded by Chinese people, was awarded this dazzling Garuda for its great contribution to the Thai economy in 1967.
Black Dome Roof Terrace
The highlight of the building is a pair of black domes in the French Baroque style, which gracefully sit on both sides of the top, forming a striking contrast with the white mountain flower. Here, you can enjoy the panoramic view of the Huangpu River.
Opening Hours
Address: No. 7, Zhongshan East Road
Public: Saturday, Sunday (Opening hours on national holidays are announced separately)
Morning: 9:30-12:00 (Entrance closed at 11:00)
Afternoon: 13:00-16:30 (Entrance closed at 16:00)
Groups: Tuesday to Friday (Opening hours on national holidays are announced separately)
(Must make an appointment five working days in advance, which will be effective after confirmation by the museum.)
Appointment Tel: 021-3331112
Nearby Check-in Points
Shanghai Municipal Federation of Trade Unions
The Shanghai Municipal Federation of Trade Unions Building is the former Bank of Communications Building, designed by Hongda Trading Company and built by Tao Fuji Construction Factory in 1947. It is in the Art Deco style and is an outstanding historical building in Shanghai. The ground floor of the building is an exhibition hall called “The Times Leaders – Thematic Exhibition of the Style of Shanghai Labor Models”, carefully planned by the Shanghai Municipal Federation of Trade Unions. It exhibits 140 exhibits and materials, 348 labor model photos, and 92 labor model videos of 154 labor models in the form of stories, pictures, and objects.
Address: No. 14, Zhongshan East Road
Opening Hours: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday 10:30-11:00, 14:00-14:30.
Reservation Method: “Huangpu Most Shanghai” WeChat public account
Shanghai Brush and Ink Museum
The Brush and Ink Museum is located on Fuzhou Road Culture Street. This small museum introduces the history of ink making and tells the story of the migration of brushes and ink to Shanghai. The museum exhibits precious objects and historical photos of two brush and ink brands that have been listed in the national intangible cultural heritage list – “Cao Sugong”, founded in 1667, and “Zhou Huchen”, founded in 1694.
Opening Hours: 10:00-16:00 (Entrance closed at 15:45)
Address: No. 429, Fuzhou Road, Huangpu District
Recommended Tourist Routes
Walk into the Bund architecture: Shanghai Archives → Shanghai Telecom Museum → Peace Hotel → Bund History Memorial Hall → Yuanmingyuan Road Pedestrian Street
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