Revamp brings Qishan Village up to date while taking it back in time
The exterior of the former residence (left) of missile and space scientist Qian Xuesen is restored along with other houses in the Qishan Village community.
A project to give an old neighborhood a face-lift and restore the former homes of many luminaries their original look is nearing completion.
The exterior walls of 15 buildings in the Qishan Village community in Changning District, characteristic Shanghai lane houses built in the 1920s, have been refurbished and restored.
Termites that once infested the brick and wood structures have been exterminated and rotten pillars replaced with new ones.
Shared kitchens have been upgraded and most overhead cables are now buried.
The project is part of an ongoing program to revamp historic Yuyuan Road.
The neighborhood has been home to many notable citizens. Missile and space scientist Qian Xuesen (1911-2009) lived there after his return from the United States in 1955. His house is now a memorial to his legacy.
Among other former residents were writer, translator and scholar Shi Zhecun (1905-2003), translator Fu Lei (1908-1966) and pianist Gu Shengying (1937-1967).
Shen Fengmei, 63, who was born in the neighborhood, often met Qian’s parents, Fu and Gu when she was young.
“The community used to be a beautiful, stylish neighborhood but was spoiled by overcrowding, illegal structures, termites and hygiene problems,” she said.
The fishbone-shaped community was listed in 2005. The townhouses and stand-alone villas feature four styles of facade — red brick, black brick, pebble dash and stucco.
Jiangsu Road Subdistrict began the face-lift in March and one of the major objectives was to restore the characteristic facades.
Thick coatings of plaster and cement on red and black exterior walls were removed to expose the original brickwork.
Some of the red-brick walls had been thickly plastered over during previous maintenance. Workers took two days to remove it and clean the walls, said Li Luyi, Party chief of Qishan neighborhood committee.
The fishbone-shaped, lane-style Qishan Village community is listed as a protected block in 2005.
The former residence of actress Zhu Xijuan used to be covered with colorful small pebbles. Workers went to a number of suppliers to find similar stones and restore the wall.
“I like the architecture in the neighborhood, but the previous condition of the houses was very tired,” said Kyle Balder from United States who has been living in Shanghai for around 12 years. He often makes a shortcut through the neighborhood and took his parents to visit the houses early this year.
Residents were given help to install lighter, uniform awnings and laundry racks to protect the structure and historical ambiance, Li said.
In the next stage, all the remaining overhead cabling in the lane will be buried to enhance the historical feel of the community, she added. The cabling work, the final step of the project, is expected to be completed early in 2019.
There are about 340,000 square meters of garden villas, lane-style neighborhoods and old apartments in Changning District, nearly half of them within the jurisdiction of the subdistrict.
A total of 121 buildings have been listed as “excellent.”
Similar revamps are underway along Yuyuan Road, which dates back to 1911, the final year of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), and runs through the districts of Changning and Jing’an. It is one of the dozen protected historic and cultural zones downtown.
The facade of a red-brick garden villa in the Qishan Village community is restored to its original look. The ground floor is now an office for the neighborhood committee.
The small cobblestones on the walls of the former residence of actress Zhu Xijuan are replaced.
The black-brick facade of these townhouse villas is restored to its original look.
