Former Site of Yongchuan Steamship Bureau

Former Site of Yongchuan Steamship Bureau

The former site of Yongchuan Steamship Bureau is a cultural relic protection unit of Zhejiang Province.

The former site of Yongchuan Steamship Bureau is located at No. 9 Yongchuan Road, Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province. It consists of a courtyard-style building enclosed by a porch, wing rooms (including a staircase room), the main building, and surrounding walls. Facing south, the porch is situated at the corner of the street, featuring a faceted arc-shaped plan. The structure has a single-story reinforced concrete base, with a second-floor terrace adorned by precast concrete vase-shaped railings. The main building has a width of four bays across two stories, with outer corridors on both the north and south sides. Each bay features square pilasters, with continuous arches between them supported by Ionic columns. The column surfaces are finished with quartz mortar to create a Palladian theme. Each arch is adorned with a keystone. The string course and eaves feature multiple layers of brick moldings, with sawtooth decorations along the eaves and a parapet wall rising above the eaves, decorated with perforated brickwork. The second-floor corridor is enclosed by vase-shaped railings. The interior is constructed with wood, featuring wooden flooring and a sloped-beam roof structure with square wooden rafters. External louvred doors and windows are installed outside the regular ones. The roof is a double-sloped hip-and-gable style. The staircase room is located on the east side and houses a single-flight wooden staircase. Adjacent to the staircase room is a single-wing room.

Yongchuan Bureau, officially known as Yongchuan Steamship Bureau, was founded by Ningbo native Lin Xiheng. During the 1920s and 1930s, Yongchuan Steamship Bureau constructed office buildings along Yongchuan Road as its operational base in Wenzhou. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the former site of Yongchuan Steamship Bureau was allocated for use by the Wenzhou Military Sub-district.

Protection Level: Provincial-level Cultural Relic Protection Unit

Period: Republican Era

Category: Important Modern Historical Sites and Representative Buildings

Protected Area: East boundary extends 1 meter outward from the existing surrounding wall; south boundary extends 2 meters outward from the existing surrounding wall; west boundary extends 5 meters outward from the existing surrounding wall; north boundary follows the existing surrounding wall.

Building Control Zone: East boundary extends 24 meters outward from the protected area line; south boundary extends 23 meters outward from the protected area line; west boundary follows the red line of the planned urban road’s eastern side; north boundary follows the red line of the southern side of Zhubai Road.

Further Reading:

· Sixth Batch of Municipal-Level Cultural Relic Protection Units in Wenzhou

· Sixth Batch of Provincial-Level Cultural Relic Protection Units in Zhejiang