Moller Villa

Moller Villa

Moller Villa is a National AAA-level Tourist Attraction and a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level.

Located at the corner of Yan’an Middle Road and South Shaanxi Road is Moller Villa, a garden villa with distinct Nordic charm completed in 1936. Legend has it that the design of this house was inspired by a dream of the garden owner Moller’s favorite young daughter. The little girl once dreamed that she owned a “castle straight out of an Andersen fairy tale,” so Moller hired a designer to build this castle-like villa with Nordic Norwegian architectural style at No. 30 South Shaanxi Road. He invested heavily and it took seven years to complete.

The interior decoration of the main building of Moller Villa is exquisitely designed. The hallways and corridors are fitted with wainscoting, adorned everywhere with beautifully carved patterns. The domes inside are fitted with stained glass that casts colorful and soft hues when illuminated by sunlight.

The main building has three floors, topped with two gabled roofs of varying heights. The eastern gabled roof rises nearly 20 meters high and features arched bay windows, with both the spire and the upper parts of the bay windows decorated with reliefs. The western gabled roof is about 25 meters high and much steeper. This building features typical Norwegian architectural style, utilizing high, sharp, and steep roofs that help resist the cold winds of northern Europe and reduce snow accumulation on the roof.

The southern façade of the main building features three elegantly shaped, delicately decorated double-pitched roofs perpendicular to the main ridge, along with four dormer windows, interwoven with the two eastern and western gabled roofs, resembling a magnificent small palace. The decorative wooden components of the central double-pitched roof are clearly exposed, with white plaster joints between the elements, typically representing the rural architectural style of Scandinavian flavor. The outer walls of the main building are inlaid with Taishan facing bricks, giving it a distinctive character.

The garden is situated to the south of the main building. The surrounding area is paved with colorful floral tiles and planted with precious trees and flowers such as dragon juniper and cedar. In the center is a lawn with a bronze horse placed on it. To beautify the garden scenery and facilitate indoor flower viewing, there is also a flower-viewing house in the garden. It was originally equipped with heating facilities, featuring exquisitely carved decorations and colorful tiled flooring.

Although Moller was a British Jewish man, he made his fortune in China. Therefore, although the exterior of the building has a Nordic Norwegian style, many details of the garden and interior decoration carry a strong Chinese flavor. The entrance resembles that of a traditional Chinese wealthy mansion, with a pair of Chinese-style stone lions. The high walls around the garden are paved with fireproof bricks and topped with yellow-green Chinese glazed tiles. Walking through the corridors, one may occasionally come across a shrine, similar to the bodhisattva worshipped by fishermen on their boats to bless them with safe voyages.

The Moller family did not live here for long before the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War. In 1941, after the Japanese entered the concessions, the Moller family was sent to a concentration camp, and the residence became a Japanese military club. After the victory of the war, it then served as a secret service facility for a certain organization.

After 1949, Moller Villa became the office of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Youth League. In 1989, it was listed among the first batch of Shanghai’s modern outstanding protected buildings. In January 2001, it came under the management of Shanghai-based tourism conglomerate Hengshan (Group) Company and was renovated into a boutique hotel. It officially opened to the public in May 2002 under the name Hengshan Moller Villa Hotel.

Address: No. 30 South Shaanxi Road, Jing’an District

Transportation: Take Metro Line 2 or 7 to Jing’an Temple Station, then walk along South Shaanxi Road to reach the site. Alternatively, take Bus 24 to South Shaanxi Road & Yan’an Middle Road, and walk from there.

Further Reading:

· Sixth Batch of Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level