Ancient Buildings in Chongqing

By Rui Hu, EDITOR

While wandering around the bustling city with high-rise buildings, have you ever noticed any historical construction with Boston-ivy-coated mottled walls, standing quietly somewhere? Some of them are residential houses, business stores, or infrastructures for public service.

They are the bearers of the traditional local culture of Chongqing despite the lost glory and imposing manner. We should forever remember and value them, the representatives of traditional architectural techniques and witnesses of the vicissitudes.

Rotunda Mansion

Address: No. 190, Jialing New Village, Liziba Area, Yuzhong District

Features: This beautiful building in Chongqing was an alternate capital during the War of Resistance. It was built in the early time of that period and with the construction area of 169 m². The main body’s layout features double-layer concentric circles, and the annex is a rectangle brick-and-wood structure. The lower parts have stone walls, and the roofs are paved with Chinese-style tiles. The ground floor is the hall, and the two stories are not separated and are lighted by the clerestories. The simple and creative style and completed round shape win it the name of “Rotunda Mansion.” It was the former residence of Mr. Sun Ke during the War of Resistance, as well as one of the few surviving Chongqing-situated architectures designed by Yang Tingbao, a well-known architect in modern China.

No. 40 of Xiahongxue Lane

Address: No.40, Xiahongxue Lane, Yuzhong District

Features: This scenic building was built in 1935, when Chongqing was an open port, with the construction area of 502 m². The plan is an irregular square, and the brick-and-wood structure has two stories. It features arches, gallery, exterior plaster moldings, hip-and-gable roof paved with Chinese-style tiles, and gable dormers. The interior partition walls consist of the cavity and wood panel types, and the rest parts are carved doors, windows, and embellishments. The former residence was used as a munition transfer station during the War of Resistance, and then the Wanglongmen Housing Management Office. Now, it provides sites for Wanglongmen kindergarten. It also symbolizes the combination of Western and Chongqing architectural styles and offers historical reference in studying the simplified hip-and-gable roof and the co-existence of arches and gallery.

Haozhiwan Residence

Address: Haozhiwan, Shuijiang Town, Nanchuan District

Features: This scenic building was built in the early 1920s, when Chongqing was an open port, with the construction area of 1,700 m². The plan is of a line arrangement, and two rows of structures form the brick-and-wood building. It has three stories and features arches and gallery. The columns are in Corinthian Order, and with Chinese cabbage styling design, they are also decorated with ink and wash paintings and bas-relieves of flowers, birds, fish, and insects. Three gable dormers are distributed on the hip-and-gable roof, with brick-laid molding at the cornices. The central and rear part located a staircase, where there are spiral stairs in the wooden structure. The indoor ceiling boasts luxurious embellishments with various relieves. Transforming classical column types from Western countries and combining China’s traditional elements is one of the characteristics of the modern residences in Chongqing. These buildings have witnessed the combination of Western and Chinese architectural style.

Tan’s Complex

Address: Group 2 of Xiangdong Village, Longju Town, Wanzhou District

Features: It was built of traditional Bayu style in 1912, covering a building area of 6,455 square meters. It consists of one two-story quadrangle dwelling in the east and the west respectively, featuring a brick-and-wood structure, beam frames in the forms of column & tie and post & lintel, outer gables of rigid materials, and overhanging gable roofs covered with gray tiles. There are round ornamental perforated stone windows on the gables with exquisite colored drawings. With simple and clear architectural space structure layout, it is a typical object for studying the traditional dwellings in the late Qing Dynasty (1636-1912) in Bayu Area.

Du’s Residence

Address: Shuangyantang, South Mountain Park, Nan’an District

Features: It’s a scenic building of Chongqing as an open port built-in the early 20th century. The two-story building features brick-and-wood structure, diversified roof designs, and simple facade styles, and the building plane is composed of squares and regular hexagons. As the former residence of Du Yuesheng, President of the Associated Chambers of Commerce in the French Concession, it is now the Nanshan Botanical Garden Construction Office and one of the typical representatives combining Chinese and Western architectural styles in Chongqing during its port opening period.

Temporary Residence of Chiang Kai-shek at Jinlong Village

Address: In Jian’s Paper Mill, Group II of Jinlong Village, Shuangjiang Town, Tongnan District

Features: Being built-in 1942, it’s a beautiful building in Chongqing as an alternate capital during the War of Resistance, which covers an area of 350 square meters, including a building area of 178.1 square meters. The building is 14.6 meters long, 12.2 meters wide and 6 meters high, and is square U-shaped in the aerial view. The single-eave hip roof is covered with Chinese-style tiles, the wall is made of superior smooth wine red sandstone ashlars, while the base of the courtyard in front of the house is 0.8 meters high and there are five steps. As an important building of Kuomintang Army Mechanization School at that time, it was a temporary residence of Chiang Kai-shek when inspecting the school.

Zhong’s Complex

Address: No.17 of Lane 1, Huangjueping, Ciqikou Ancient Town, Shapingba District

Features: It was built of traditional Bayu style in 1890, featuring quadrangle dwelling layout, wooden column-and-tie structure, and overhanging gable roofs. Its interior space is composed of a lobby and the main hall. As a significant scenic spot of Ciqikou Ancient Town, it’s one of the most complete quadrangle dwellings in Chongqing.

 

A Residence at Chayuangou

Address: Chayuangou Group, Dabao Village, Sanyi Township, Shizhu County

Features: It was built of traditional Bayu style in the 1950s, with an area of 120 square meters. The two-story rectangle building is of column-and-tie structure. As a typical object of Tujia nationality dwellings in Bayu Area, it’s important for the study on the origin of traditional buildings and pedigree relationship in this area.

Source: CQCB
Related links:

Come to Explore Chongqing History at the Newly-Opened Ciqikou Museum

“Underground City”: Part of Life in Chongqing