Former Residence of Chen Chuxiang

　　Yongquanfang on Yuyuan Road (Lane 395), named after an ancient spring in the former Jing'an Temple area, covers a total area of 5,300 square meters and originally had 16 residential buildings with a construction area of 6,233 square meters. Among them, 15 were three-story Spanish-style new-style lane houses, and one was a Spanish-style independent garden villa. All buildings were designed in 1934 by renowned Chinese architects Yang Runyu, Yang Yuanlin, and Zhou Jizhi, constructed by Jiujì Construction Company, and completed in 1936, representing a typical example of new-style lane housing.

　　Yongquanfang was invested in by Shanghai Renhe Real Estate Company, with the owner being Chen Chuxiang, General Manager of Huacheng Tobacco Company. No. 24 at the end of the lane was Chen Chuxiang’s private residence — a four-story independent Spanish-style garden villa covering a land area of 387 square meters and a construction area of 1,115 square meters, with a garden of nearly 1,000 square meters to the southeast. The entire structure is nestled within lush greenery, and due to variations in roof height, each of the building’s four facades is unique. The residence has nearly 40 rooms of various sizes. The ground floor includes a living room, drawing room, lounge, dining room, kitchen, and garage; the upper floors mainly consist of bedrooms, guest rooms, study rooms, and activity rooms, with a scripture-chanting hall also located on the fourth floor. The interior decor adopts a traditional Chinese style, featuring painted ceilings, mural walls, and Chinese-style furniture. The ground floor lobby, hallway, and stairwell are paved with marble, while main rooms are floored with teak rattan-patterned wood. The stair railings are cast in bronze with floral patterns, and the stairwell also features ornate niches.

　　Chen Chuxiang’s residence exhibits rich cultural connotations in both its interior and exterior decoration, landscape arrangement, and overall three-dimensional architectural form, embodying an innovative and refined contemporary elegance.

　　From large structural elements to minute details, from exterior to interior, and from building layout to garden design, the architects poured immense creativity into the project. The exterior walls are clad with decorative X-style Taishan mosaic tiles, lending the building a grand and graceful appearance. Features such as Spanish-style cylindrical clay roof tiles, cornice dentil moldings and fluted double columns, Roman-style columns and capitals, semicircular window pediments, and arched door surrounds all reflect a strong European architectural influence. The garden is primarily designed in the style of classical Suzhou gardens, featuring exquisitely laid-out landscapes including rockeries, small pavilions, bridges over flowing water, stone ponds, flowers, trees, winding paths, and pavilions, achieving a harmonious balance of movement and tranquility. Throughout the seasons, the garden bursts with blossoms, including cherry blossoms, peonies, and osmanthus. Under the wisteria trellis sits a tea house, evoking the serenity and classic elegance of a traditional Chinese garden. It is truly a masterpiece of Sino-Western cultural fusion. This private residence was designated as a protected outstanding modern architectural site in Shanghai in 1994.

　　

　　Chen Chuxiang (1897~1973)　　Chen Chuxiang was born in 1897, during the 23rd year of the Guangxu reign in the Qing Dynasty, in Zhenhai, Zhejiang Province. He attended private school at age 8, transferred to another school in Zhenhai at age 10, and in 1912 moved to Shanghai with his father to study at Minli Middle School outside Xiaoxi Gate. He dropped out of school at the age of 19 in 1916 to start a business. Initially, he worked as a clerk in the sales department of the British-American Tobacco Company in Shanghai for about three years. In 1919, Chen Chuxiang’s father, Chen Wenjian, along with Shen Zhaoyong, founded Xingye Tobacco Company, where Chen joined the company. However, Xingye later failed due to certain issues. 1924年，陈楚湘继承父业创办福和烟草公司，任总经理，后将前华成烟草公司改为中国华成烟草股份...... More+