HSBC Building

HSBC Building

The HSBC Building is a protected cultural heritage site of Shanghai.

HSBC Building

Located at No. 10–12 Zhongshan East First Road, its foundation stone was laid on May 5, the 10th year of the Republic of China (1921), and it was completed on June 23, the 12th year of the Republic of China (1923). The building was invested in by the British-owned HSBC, designed by the British firm Palmer & Turner, and constructed by the British firm Denison, Ram & Gibbs. The site covers an area of 9,338 square meters, with a floor area of 23,415 square meters. The main structure has five floors, with parts reaching seven floors, featuring a reinforced concrete structure and a central dome with a steel frame.

The building has a rectangular floor plan. The main entrance leads to a circular lobby topped with a hemispherical steel-framed dome, which opens into the banking hall. A separate entrance on the south side, facing Fuzhou Road, originally served as the banking hall for Chinese clients. The building’s exterior is dignified, orderly, and elegant, exhibiting distinct European neoclassical architectural style. The façade is divided horizontally into three classic European sections, with a central double-columned portico of faux ancient Roman Corinthian columns, a base section featuring three arches, and all façade elements proportioned according to ancient Roman columnar ratios. The rough-hewn stone base and the central dome atop the building evoke the Pantheon in ancient Rome. The exterior walls are clad in granite, giving the structure a solid stonework appearance. A pair of granite plinths flank the main entrance, each originally topped with a bronze lion, with tall stone lamp posts on either side of the plinths.

The banking hall features an arched steel-and-glass skylight and two full-height columns of Italian marble in the Ionic order, giving the entire space a lavish and magnificent atmosphere. Facing the Huangpu River, the building stands imposingly with vast open space, making it a central structure among the Bund’s riverside buildings and a prominent city landmark. Upon its completion, Westerners boasted that it was “the most luxurious building from the Suez Canal to the Bering Strait in the Far East.”

Originally named the “HSBC Building” after the bank, it was temporarily occupied by the Yokohama Specie Bank of Japan during the Pacific War. After the victory in the War of Resistance against Japan in 1945 (the 34th year of the Republic of China), HSBC moved back and resumed operations. Starting April 1955, it was repurposed for use by the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government and renamed the “Municipal Government Building.”

It was designated as a protected cultural heritage site of Shanghai in 1989.