Visit Zhangyuan again

Original link: https://imjiayin.com/4886

On December 1, the newly renovated Zhang Garden reopened to the public, and I went shopping with my friends. Zhangyuan is located near the intersection of Maoming North Road and Nanjing West Road in the city center. There are a lot of copywriting in the media. If you are interested, you can search it. And I will talk about the feeling of visiting Zhangyuan from the perspective of a simple city explorer. .

The gray walls and red bricks are clean and tidy, coupled with the uniformly designed logo, all kinds of high-level senses come to the face, and the historical relics are matched with modern rendering techniques, which is really beautiful.

In the past few years, more and more commercial models have been introduced after the reconstruction of historically protected buildings. Starting from Xintiandi on Huaihai Road, there have been waves of relocation and renovation of old houses. There is a similar area next to the opened Suhewan Vientiane City. However, Zhang Yuan’s reputation may be more famous. The reason why I say possible is because I really don’t know much about it. Through some official accounts, I learned that Zhang Yuan was the largest public activity space in Shanghai in the late Qing Dynasty. Zhang Yuan It’s just an abbreviation, the full name is “Zhang’s Weichun Garden”, because Zhang Shuhe, a Wuxi businessman, once owned this garden at that time, so it was named Zhang Garden. It is said that Huo Yuanjia competed in martial arts here, the first bicycle in Shanghai was ridden here, and the first outdoor photo studio was also opened here, etc. On January 15, 1911, all walks of life in Shanghai also held a braid-cutting meeting in Zhangyuan, which shows the importance of their social status. After 1918, the entertainment function of Zhangyuan was gradually withdrawn, and the plots were sold separately, and then a number of Shikumen were built for people to live in, and became residential buildings. For more than 100 years, it has existed here in the form of old-style Shikumen residential areas in the lanes, submerged in the sprawling high-rise buildings on Nanjing West Road, and no one cares about it.

I came here in September 2018. At that time, I also heard that Fengshengli, west of Maoming North Road, had just opened. I also went here with my friends to eat, eat and take pictures. Unexpectedly, there are many bright spots hidden in the Shikumen in the east, so I pressed the shutter to freeze some moments. It is quite interesting to compare with the photos I took when I traveled again now. The picture below is a part of the facade along the street east of Maoming North Road, which is about the same location as the picture above. At that time, the relocation of the residential area had just started, and the residents had not moved out. Every household was different. The window sill configuration looks a little messy.

And now that Blue Bottle Coffee is opened, Zhang Yuan is naturally separated by the west wall of this row of buildings, forming a new high-end commercial area. The names of all lanes are also repainted. It is no longer a crowded and narrow residential area, but a leisure area for tourists to stop and watch.

That day was the first day that Zhangyuan was open to the public. Vacheron Constantin rented a four-story villa in the core area of ​​Zhangyuan for an exhibition for six months. I am not interested in watches (actually they are too expensive^_^). Dong Lou’s interest is stronger.

This was originally the house of Zhang Shuhe, the owner of Zhang Garden. The four-story small western-style building is as old as the old ones. The horizontal and vertical wooden doors on the third floor are very conspicuous. If you look up at both ends of the door frame, you can see the cards of the big family and the transom on the top of the door. It is common in Shanghai buildings. I remember that when I was very young, my grandfather’s house also had this kind of transom. There are three opposite doors under the transom. The hinges are upright and connected with the door handle. I don’t know what it is called Name, but it looks very dignified.

The balconies on the third and fourth floors are also very delicate, and it takes a lot of time to lay the fancy mosaics, not to mention the materials.

The iron hook that buckles the window opening angle after the window is opened is also an old thing from the last century. I don’t know what the technical term is, but this kind of old-fashioned detail can definitely give full marks.

Standing on the terrace on the fourth floor and looking to both sides, you can have a bird’s-eye view of the entire Zhang Garden. To the east is the first phase of Zhangyuan, which has been completed and opened. You can see that the red bricks and gray tiles have been re-paved, and the fresh air system, exhaust system, and lightning rods are all available on the roof.

Looking at the west side, it is the second phase of the demolition, people go to the vacant building, and it is still being cleaned up. Old is the only adjective, and it is more obvious when compared with the above picture 1.

Looking at it as a whole, this small four-story western-style building is different from the steeple-roofed villas. It has more practical elements and looks quite satisfactory.

What’s interesting is that when I went home and looked through the photos I took in the past 18 years, I even took pictures of this villa, but you would never imagine what the villa looked like at that time. It was the end of summer in September, and the weather was still hot. When I passed by Zhangyuan and was about to leave, I saw this building. At that time, this building scared me because the window on the right was covered with dead vines. It is said that it was a The photography studio looks very weird, and there was a wall in front of the building at the time, so I only took pictures of the upper part of the building. Obviously, there are more than 8 families living here, especially the terrace on the fourth floor. There are more than three violations The number of residents may even be doubled, and each family has a small area to live here, which is extremely crowded. It is hard for you to imagine that the predecessor of the foreign-style building rented by Vacheron Constantin looked like this.

It can only be said that the power of capital is too strong. After the capital is injected, the older the objects, the brighter the light will be. Of course, the craftsmanship of the craftsmen is also excellent, so that such a beautiful garden can be displayed to the public.

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