Littlestyle--Public buildings

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Publication Date: 2005-10-13
Features: Remember what Goethe said: "Architecture is frozen music." In fact, as a tangible visual art, architecture is also frozen history. As you stroll through the streets of Tianjin, row upon row of buildings with different historical flavors and personalities come into view; without's magic, the European atmosphere seems to be right beside you. Over the past century, the subtle accumulation of time has turned these grand and small buildings into beacons of old Tianjin; and the history hidden within these buildings represents the trajectory of Tianjin's urban growth. Today, these buildings have become the cultural heritage of Tianjin, its landmarks, and the link between the past and the present. With such rich connotations, we have no reason not to cherish, document, study, and protect them.
In Tianjin, the buildings are the product of the concessions. When it comes to the history of these buildings, we cannot help but think of the concessions and the autumn of 1860, when the ink of the Supplementary Treaty between China and Britain was barely dry. A British engineer named Gordon marked out the British concession on the southeastern bank of the Haihe River in Tianjin City, then set up boundary stones. Soon after, France and the United States each claimed a piece of land. Thus, Tianjin became the second city in China, after Shanghai, to have concessions.
In essence, the concessions were foreign residential areas in Chinese cities. At the time of their establishment, the concessions were mostly farmland or low-lying areas. Although many plots in the British concession were sold to the highest bidder according to the "Royal Lease" conditions, building construction was still extremely difficult. Initially, only the built a decent building, which later became the British Consulate. In 1864, the old Union Church was built on the land of the Saint Church on Hai Dào (Dagu Road). Before the new Union Church was completed, this was where the concession residents gathered for worship. Additionally, only some excellent houses were built near the Taidu Road (Tai'erzhuang Road) wharf, but the rent was very high. Even so, many companies still saw the British concession as promising. They would first buy the land, "set up boundary posts, build a large warehouse and a few temporary living quarters, and be satisfied."
The concessions operated under Western-style urban self-governance, where road construction, drainage facilities, street lighting, and police salaries were all the responsibility of the lessees, or taxpayers. By the 1870s, the British concession authorities had accumulated considerable funds, so they began large-scale municipal construction according to Gordon's original plan. They raised the height of Taidu Road and built the central axis of the concession—the Zhong Street (later renamed Victoria Road)—with a straight, flat road lined with two rows of elms on both sides. Thanks to the solid infrastructure, by the 1880s, a foreign trade chamber, an English newspaper, a library, a literary society, a gravel road, a park, and a municipal building in the Chinese commercial port had appeared. At the same time, the lives of the concession residents underwent a "revolution." Grass court tennis, balls, smoking, free concerts, and amateur or professional theatrical performances could all be held in clubs. French residents could even hold paper race competitions by the Haihe River.
With the prosperity of the British concession, the demand for buildings quickly "heated up." As soon as a building was completed, it would be rented out and occupied. In fact, many buildings were booked long before they were even built.
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