Shanghai Daily News

Xuhui District plans to revamp the exteriors of more than 1,000 old garden villas over the next few months.

Most of the houses were built in the early 20th century and are located along 15 streets in the district.

The first batch of more than 100 houses, mostly along Yueyang Road and Urumuqi Road, will undergo a face-lift by the year's end.

"The project aims to restore the old houses to their original outlooks," said Wang Anshi, head of the renovation and management department of the Shanghai Housing and Land Administrative Bureau.

The district government will pay for the renovations, but hasn't said how much they are expected to cost.

According to Zhang Yanhua, an expert in old houses at Tongji University, the villas in Xuhui reflect a variety of international architectural features, particularly French, as part of the district used to be the French concession. "The garden villas were built according to the original foreign architectural characteristics."