Guo Dihuo Residence

Guo Dihuo Residence

Guo Dihuo Residence is a cultural tourism attraction.

The residence at 893 Huashan Road was built in 1948. It is a two-story building with a reinforced concrete structure and a construction area of approximately 800 square meters, featuring a large south-facing garden. Originally the private home of the ethnic Chinese industrialist Guo Dihuo, after the liberation it served as the office building of the Shanghai Federation of Industry and Commerce and is now used by Shanghai Mingyuan Industrial Group Co., Ltd. In 1994, it was listed as a Shanghai municipal modern outstanding architecture conservation unit.

The residence features a modern architectural style, deliberately pursuing fashionable geometric forms in its exterior design, with an asymmetrical layout and interlocking convex and concave volumes.

The interior includes wide hallways, with the stairwell facade constructed with semi-circular glass brick walls. The curved main staircase is divided by glass screens, allowing for fluid integration of various spatial elements. The cast bronze railings from this period are S-shaped, exquisitely crafted with fine detailing. The design of the residence was indeed significantly influenced by the Western modern architectural concept of "flowing space," emphasizing planar freedom and spatial flexibility.

The north facade of the residence is a combination of arcs and rectangles, with a simple form and smooth lines that highlight a modern style and pursue a perfect three-dimensional exterior effect. The north entrance leads into the interior via a corridor. On the ground floor facing south are four rooms, with steel windows and doors on the façade overlooking the south garden that are large, bright, and expansive. Standing before the low windowsill is like standing at a scenic lookout — sunlight, nature, and the lush greenery of the garden all come into full view.

The left side of the ground floor houses an exquisitely designed ballroom, featuring keruing wood parquet flooring, teak wainscoting, a bronze granite fireplace, and a ceiling embedded with acoustic baffles, centered around a large bronze decorative chandelier. Through the door to the east are two elegantly arranged small rooms: a study and a reception room. The north room is a cloakroom, adjacent to which is a 100-square-meter dining room and a pantry. The eastern room on the second floor was the bedroom of Guo’s sons, Guo Zhiwei and Guo Zhixin; the western side housed the bedrooms of his daughters, Guo Zisi, Guo Zichao, and Guo Zizhen. The large central room facing south was the bedroom of Guo Dihuo and his wife, Ma Jinchao, while the western wing room served as the living quarters for the maids. A large vertical clock placed in the hallway, of similar vintage to the house itself, has witnessed over half a century of historical changes and worldly transformations.

In summary, the residence's flat roof, white plaster walls, glass bricks, corner windows, cylindrical stairwell, and large arc-shaped balcony all showcase characteristics of the modern architectural style.

Guo Dihuo (1904–1986)

Also known as Jing Tang, he was from Zhuxiuyuan Village in Huancheng. He was a Chinese industrialist. Born in Sydney, Australia, and spent his childhood there, he returned to Hong Kong with his family in the fifth year of the Republic of China (1916). As a teenager, having witnessed foreigners bullying Chinese people, he resolved to strive for self-improvement and dedicate himself to the nation and its people. He returned to China for his education, graduating in 1923 from Lingnan University in Guangzhou. In the same year, he went to the New Bedford Textile Institute in Massachusetts, USA, to study textile engineering. He graduated in 1927, ranking first in his class and earning a medal awarded by the American cotton spinning industry association... More details about Guo Dihuo ++