Shanghai Daily news

The Science Hall on Nanchang Road (top) was built in 1914 as the French Club. The magnificent architecture —dazzling stained glass windows, dramatic ceiling  and the sweeping wooden staircase —offers modern-day visitors a glimpse of the old grandeur. On the same road stands the former residence of artist Lin Fengmian.

Today, the Science Hall at No. 47 Nanchang Road is a salon for Chinese scientists. But more than 80 years ago, this two-story garden house was a salon of a very different kind -- it was the French Club.
The red-tiled house with creamy walls is a grand myth of dozens of rooms. The large house is perfectly complemented with a 6,000-square-meter garden.
``The house is decorated in a simple, elegant style,'' says architect Cai Zhenjue, who renovated the hall 17 years ago. ``The use of the appropriate trees and lawn space softens the grandeur of the building, making it look almost cozy. It surprised me that early 20th-century architects had mastered botanical design to this extent.''
It's easy to get lost in this mansion, and difficult to find a specific room. But it makes for an interesting journey, as the visitor may encounter scientific seminars or lectures in the spacious halls, the walls of which are lavishly embellished with fine teakwood.
A chestnut-hued wooden staircase leads to a dazzling stained-glass window between the first and second floors, which is marked with the year 1918. The brilliant window is patterned with a vivid tree blossoming with scarlet flowers.
The present name of the building, Kexue Huitang (the Science Hall), was named and written on the gate by Shanghai's first mayor, Chen Yi.
``The Chamber of Industry in the then French Concession built the house in 1914 as the venue for French Club,'' says Liu Gang, an expert on historical conservation of architecture from Tongji University. ``Many formal social activities were held here, such as dancing balls, cocktails, exhibitions, rituals and sports including billiards and tennis. When the French Club moved to what is today the Okura Garden Hotel on Maoming Road in 1926, the house turned into a school for French children. To my view, the house was the most important piece of public architecture in the former French Concession because of its scale and function.''
Hong Yaoming, the hall's director, says that he has received countless old French visitors, who used to study here.
``The French Club used to have two other buildings,'' says Si Shenming, an official of the Shanghai Association for Science and Technology. ``One is rented out to the Xian Qiang Fang Restaurant, which used to have four bowling lanes as part of the club. The other is now the gymnastics house for Shanghai Juvenile School of Physical Training, which was formerly a grand dancing hall. We had originally planned to demolish the two houses, but have reconsidered, in order to preserve history.''
The association now plans to renovate the two buildings to their original look based on the original blueprints and photos, and the buildings will function as exhibition rooms for Shanghai's history of science and technology.
Between the grand hall at No. 47 and the two subsidiary buildings at No. 57 stands a line of small, red-brick houses, one of which housed an illustrious painter. Renowned Chinese painter and art educator Lin Fengmian, whose works were exhibited in the Science Hall in 1929, 1934 and 1948, lived at No. 53.
Born in 1900 in Guangdong Province, Lin received his art education in France, returning to China in 1926, when he took up the post of president of Public Beijing Art School. Famous for painting beauties, flowers and wild geese, Lin's work was noted for its blend of the best of both Eastern and Western art.
He moved to the house on No. 53 Nanchang Road in 1952, living in semi-seclusion as he painted traditional Chinese opera paintings.
His French wife and daughter left him to settle down in Brazil in 1955. Lin lived alone since then.
Imprisoned during the ``cultural revolution'' (1966-76) and released in 1972, he left Shanghai for Hong Kong, where he died in 1999. Regarded as a pioneer of Chinese modern art, Lin influenced a group of younger artists and his famous students include painters Wu Guanzhong and Zao Wou-ki.
``His house with 11 rooms used to be an independent villa in a strong colonial style,'' says Liu. ``There used to be a large garden facing the south. But buildings began crowding into these spaces, and now the house is shared by several families.''
The days of Frenchmen gathering for a game of petanque on the lawn and a painter creating a new kind of art are long gone. Only the red-tiled architecture remains, telling the tale in a worn, wordless way.