Former Shanghai Special Municipal Government Building

Former Shanghai Special Municipal Government Building

The Former Shanghai Special Municipal Government Building is a protected cultural heritage site of Shanghai.

The Former Shanghai Special Municipal Government Building is located within the Shanghai University of Sport at No. 399 Changhai Road. It was designed by the renowned Chinese architect Dong Dayou and constructed by the Zhusenji Construction Company. The building features a front plaza, has three visible stories, but includes a mezzanine within the roof, making it effectively four stories in total. Constructed with a reinforced concrete frame, it adopts an imperial palace–style architectural design, and is flanked by a pair of stone lions at the entrance.

In July 1929, the 123rd meeting of the Shanghai Municipal Government of the Republic of China passed a plan known as the "Greater Shanghai Plan." On October 1, 1929, the government decided to launch a public competition for design proposals, offering a reward of 3,000 yuan. The winning design was officially announced in February 1930, and construction commenced ceremoniously in June 1931. By mid-January 1932, as the project was nearing completion, the January 28th Incident broke out, forcing the suspension of construction. In March 1932, the ceasefire was declared, and the project resumed immediately in July, finally being completed and inaugurated on October 10, 1933. After the fall of Shanghai, the municipal government building was successively occupied by Japanese forces and the Wang Jingwei puppet regime as office spaces. Following the victory in the War of Resistance, the Nationalist municipal government relocated to the former International Settlement, and the building was repurposed as the campus of the National Physical Education Institute. After 1949, it served as the school building for the Shanghai Administrative Cadres School, the Physical Education Institute, and the East China Institute of Physical Education. In 1956, it was renamed as the administrative office building of the Shanghai University of Sport.

The Former Shanghai Special Municipal Government is listed as a heritage site under the fifth batch of Shanghai Municipal Cultural Relics Protection Units.