The history of wukanglou

During the period of1920s, with the further expansion of concession and the rapid influx of population in the last decade, as well as the appearance of new houses in Europe and America, apartment buildings began to appear in Shanghai. During this period, China Jianye Real Estate Co., Ltd. was established with the contribution of the World Savings Association, which was responsible for the development and operation of the real estate industry in Shencheng. 1924 China Jianye Real Estate Company purchased the land at the intersection of Huaihai Middle Road and Wu Kang Road at a 30-degree angle, and invested in building apartments. The apartment was designed by Hudac, a Hungarian designer from Kerry Foreign Firm, and French businessman Fahua Company was the contractor.

At that time, apartments or residential areas of Shanghai Jianye Real Estate were generally named after French place names, so the property was named after Normandy, the peninsula in northwest France. Normandy apartment is one of the earliest modern high-rise apartments in Shanghai. At that time, most people living in apartments were foreigners from the upper class. According to the column of "China Travel Guide" published by Zilin Foreign Firm 1937, there were a large number of senior staff and foreign businessmen living here at that time, such as the sales general agent of Jiadi Huoyou Property Company, the manager of AIA Shanghai Office and the manager of Siemens Shanghai Company [2]. After the outbreak of the Pacific War, a large number of British, American and French expatriates were put into concentration camps or deported for the Japanese army. By 1945, the occupancy rate in Normandy was only one third.

From 65438 to 0945, with the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the debt business of the World Savings Association expired, and it was difficult for the World Savings Association, which suffered serious losses in wartime, to pay off its debts. At that time, the participating creditors asked the Shanghai municipal government to intervene to protect the interests of creditors. From 65438 to 0946, the Shanghai municipal government ordered the World Savings Association to go bankrupt and clean up, and most of its industries were auctioned by the municipal government, and the cash obtained was used to pay off debts. Some industries are bought by the government, and Normandy apartments are one of them. After that, most apartments were allocated to civil servants by the municipal government.

1953, Normandy apartment was taken over by the Shanghai Municipal People's Government and renamed Wu Kang Building. Later, Zhao Dan, Wang, Qin Yi, Sun Daolin, Zheng, Wang and other famous people in the cultural and entertainment circles stayed here successively.