Former Site of the Song Family Residence on North Shaanxi Road

Former Site of the Song Family Residence on North Shaanxi Road

The former site of the Song Family Residence on North Shaanxi Road is a protected cultural heritage site of Shanghai.

The former site of the Song Family Residence on North Shaanxi Road is located at No. 369 North Shaanxi Road. Built in 1918, it is classified as an important modern historical site and representative building.

Located at No. 369 North Shaanxi Road and built in 1908, it is a two-and-a-half-story British-style garden villa with open space on all four sides. The residence is spacious and bright, with shady trees in the front yard, creating a pleasant scenery. The building covers a construction area of 824 square meters, with a garden area of 1,218 square meters. The original owner of the house was a foreigner named Johnson Isaacs, but it was later purchased by the renowned Christian pastor Song Yaoru (father of Soong Ching-ling), becoming the Song Family Garden.

In the early years after the liberation, Soong Ching-ling founded Shanghai’s first modern nursery here. Deng Yingchao, Xu Guangping, Hu Ziying, Liao Mengxing, and others were invited to attend the nursery’s opening ceremony at the Song residence. After the nursery moved out, the site served as a temporary office for the China Welfare Foundation. In 1952, American expert and China Welfare Institute consultant Ms. Geraldine Tennant came to work in Shanghai. Soong Ching-ling arranged for her to live here until 1963. After Soong Ching-ling passed away in 1981, this historically rich house came under the management of the China Welfare Institute and was used by the Soong Ching-ling Foundation.

On April 4, 2014, the Shanghai Municipal People's Government designated and announced the former site of the Song Family Residence on North Shaanxi Road as a protected cultural heritage site of Shanghai (Shanghai Government Document [2014] No. 29).