The Guilin Building
All Work | 17 Zhong Shan Lu, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China
The Guilin Building
Shanghai, PRChina
Scope
Built in 1923 in Shanghai’s most prominent historic commercial boulevard overlooking the Huang Pu River, the eight-story Guilin Building is one of twenty-three landmarked structures in Shanghai. Later the headquarters of the North China Daily News, the building came under a long-term lease by the American International Group’s Asia division (A.I.A.) for insurance offices.
JHPA, Inc. was responsible for historic structure documentation, and materials testing and analysis. In addition, the firm developed a restoration approach for historic elements of the building and prepared restoration documents for the exterior and selected interior spaces. These spaces include: entrances, lobby and monumental former main banking hall, and upper floor corridors. The firm’s analysis also included evaluation and recommendations for treatment of later accretions. Once restoration work was underway, JHPA performed periodic inspections of the restoration work to ensure compliance with restoration documents.
To complete the project JHPArchitects, PC worked with a large team, including a local developer, a local contractor, local artisans, a PRC preservation agency, and an American architectural firm charged with remodeling the building’s interior.