Background information of beneficiary buildings

Yi Building is located at No.4 Zhongshan East 1st Road on the Bund. Originally Tian Xiang foreign firm property, it was built at 1860. This is a three-story brick-wood house. 19 16 was rebuilt, which is the building we see today.

Tian Xiang Foreign Firm was founded by British businessmen Adamsen and Bell, mainly engaged in import and export trade and insurance business. With the continuous expansion of business, the original house is not enough, and the new buildings on both sides are erected, making the old buildings more obsolete. However, at that time, Tianxiang Foreign Firm couldn't get enough money to renovate the new building, so it joined a number of foreign firms to renovate the new building. After the new building is completed, the property will be distributed according to the proportion of each party's capital contribution. Therefore, in the early maps of China, this building was called "Union Building". Many banks and insurance companies have entered the building, but somehow, people just remember "favorable banks".

Beneficial Foreign Bank, headquartered in London, England, was formerly known as "London China Commercial Foreign Bank", then merged with "Asia Chartered Foreign Bank" and opened a branch in Shanghai on 1854, becoming one of the earliest foreign banks to enter Shanghai. About 1936, the beneficiary bank acquired part of the property rights of the building at a price of 80,000 pounds.