Shanghai Customs House

Shanghai Customs House

The Shanghai Customs House is a protected cultural heritage site of Shanghai Municipality.

The Shanghai Customs House is located at No. 13 Zhongshan East 1st Road. In the 12th year of the Republic of China (1923), it was rebuilt on the original site with investment from the customs authority. The British firm Palmer & Turner was commissioned for the design, and the construction was carried out by the Sing Kee Contracting Company. The foundation was laid in the 14th year of the Republic of China, and the entire building was completed in December of the 16th year. The building covers an area of 5,722 square meters, with a total floor area of 32,680 square meters. It is an eleven-story reinforced concrete structure.

Before the Opium Wars, the Shanghai Customs was located outside the east gate of the county town. In the 26th year of the Qing Dynasty’s Daoguang reign (1846), a customs office known as the “New Customs” was built at the current site outside the north gate. In the 3rd year of the Xianfeng reign (1853), the office was burned down, and in the 7th year, it was rebuilt on the original site in the style of an ancient temple. In the 19th year of the Guangxu reign (1893), it was remodeled in the Gothic style, and a small customs clock tower was installed on the roof. The current building was reconstructed in the 14th year of the Republic of China. Its exterior architectural style is Eclectic, with the portico designed in a Revivalist style. The front part of the building has eight stories, topped by a four-story square clock tower. The large clock has four clock faces, each composed of 12-faceted diamond patterns, with a diameter of over 5 meters. The purple copper hour hands on the clock, each weighing about 60 kilograms, made this clock the largest in the Asia-Pacific region at the time.

The front facade of the building is clad in granite, while the back has granite walls on the first and second floors, with dark brown Taishan face bricks covering the walls above the third floor. At the street-level entrance, there is a portico supported by four classic Greek Doric columns. Inside the entrance hall, there is an octagonal caisson ceiling at the center, surrounded by eight small, colorful mosaic panels depicting maritime scenes with sailboats. The craftsmanship is exquisite and the decoration is resplendent.

Designated as a protected cultural heritage site of Shanghai Municipality in 1989