Residential building at No. 250 Duolun Road

Residential building at No. 250 Duolun Road

The residential building at No. 250 Duolun Road is a Shanghai Municipal Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

The residential building at No. 250 Duolun Road, located at the corner of Sichuan North Road, was built in 1924. It covers a land area of 1,082 square meters and a construction area of 637 square meters. This two-story brick-and-wood structure is a Spanish- and Islamic-style garden residence.

The floor plan is fan-shaped, and the street-facing facade is designed with curved surfaces. The main entrance is set right in the middle of the corner. The ground floor features Islamic-style doors, windows, and columns with slender cylinders. All doors and windows are recessed, arched, and framed by wooden vermilion borders. Beneath each window is an exquisitely carved relief decoration, with the upper inner edges of the arches featuring sawtooth patterns. Above the main door, there is a small balcony that projects outward, supported by stone corbels. The walls are clad in light gray marble, with mosaic-tiled decorative paintings on the upper part. On the eastern side, the lower section of the wall consists of a continuous arrangement of round-arched windows and slender columns, while the upper section features a sequence of solid and false straight windows, creating a dynamic interplay of protrusions and indentations. The roof is equipped with two open pavilions. The hall is paved with colored tiles, and from the floor to the ceiling — including the stair railings — everything is intricately carved. In front of the hall is a small open-air courtyard enclosed by walls on three sides, lined with rows of arches. From the staircase, the banisters, and all the way up to the ceiling, there is not a single element without ornate carvings, showcasing exceptional craftsmanship and delicate detail. According to the 1937 “China Directory” published by the Shanghai-based Kelly & Walsh, the resident of the house at the end of Duolun Road (窦乐安路) was the Japanese Naval Landing Party, clearly indicating that this was the residence of the commander-in-chief of the Japanese Navy Marines headquarters — the then-incumbent commander’s official residence. After the victory in the War of Resistance, the former Japanese military properties were taken over by the Nationalist army, and Chiang Kai-shek allocated the property for use as the “Shanghai Office of the Xi’an Pacification Headquarters” under Hu Zongnan. It was later occupied by Kong Xiangxi as one of his three luxurious residences in Shanghai, commonly known as the “Kong Mansion.”

The residence centers around the arc-shaped facade at the northwest corner, extending eastward and southward, reflecting the balance and symmetry emphasized in Islamic architectural design. On the roof in the northeast section, there is a prominent open square pavilion that gives a sense of upward movement. The door and window openings of the residence all feature horseshoe arches, paired with classical oriental columns. The inner edges of the arches are decorated with gear-like patterns, characteristic of North African and Arab Islamic architecture since the 12th century. Cylinders and arches are not only used for door and window openings but also serve as exterior wall decorations, accentuating areas above windows, between windows, and beneath eaves — such as pilasters at window spandrels and continuous corbel motifs beneath the eaves.

The residential building at No. 250 Duolun Road was listed as a Shanghai Municipal Cultural Relics Protection Unit in 1989.