The Monastery Apartments

The Monastery Apartments

The Monastery Apartments are a protected cultural heritage site of Shanghai.

The Monastery Apartments are located at No. 62 Fuxing West Road and were built in 1930. Originally named the Monastery Apartments, the name was chosen merely for its reference to "monastery" (the character 道院), but the building actually has no connection to any monastery. The apartments were originally the residence of the owner of the British-owned Mifeng Knitting Mill. The property now belongs to Shanghai Xu Housing (Group) Co., Ltd. and is used by entities such as the Hunan Road Subdistrict Office.

The entire building is constructed with a brick-and-wood structure and is a typical example of Spanish-style architecture. It consists of two separate blocks—north and south—namely a two-story and a three-story building. The two buildings are connected by a covered corridor, which reflects the Spanish architectural style, as Spain faces the Mediterranean and experiences frequent rain due to monsoons, along with hot summers. Each floor of the buildings contains two residential units, offering various layouts including 3-bedroom, 4-bedroom, and 5-bedroom units. The internal spatial arrangement of the building features rich layering and variations, and both interior and exterior details bear the distinctive marks of Spanish design. For instance, its windows and doors are often fitted with ironwork grilles, and some interior partitions also use iron grilles—a feature not commonly seen in typical low-rise apartments.

Listed as a municipal-level protected cultural heritage site in the fifth batch on September 25, 1989.

Hunan Road Subdistrict: The Hunan Road Subdistrict was newly established in June 1991 (formed by merging the former Hunan and Xinle subdistricts—"two demolished to build one"). The subdistrict is located at the northeastern tip of Xuhui District, bordering Changning, Jing’an, and Luwan districts. It stretches from South Shaanxi Road in the east to Xingguo Road in the west, and from Fuxing Middle Road and Huaihai Middle Road in the south to Changle Road and Huashan Road in the north. Covering an area of 1.72 square kilometers, it has 16 neighborhood committees, 495 resident groups, 19,814 households, a registered population of 55,234, including 14,347 residents aged 60 and above, among which 370 are over 90 years old and 9 are centenarians. There are 5 Party general branches, Party branches... More detailed information about the Hunan Road Subdistrict++