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The Imperial Bank of China Building (the first Commercial Bank of China), acknowledged as one of the oldest buildings on the Bund, is generally documented as being built in 1897 as premises for either the Imperial Bank of China or the Commercial Bank of China. It is actually the case that the Imperial Bank of China, which was later to become the Commercial Bank of China, opened its doors there in May 1897. However, the building itself was completed many years earlier than is generally realized as the new premises for Russell & Co., one of the most illustrious American companies to operate in China in the 19th century. Photographic evidence shows that the building, which was described as new, was there in 1886; whilst the American scholar Eric Politzer dates the building back to 1881. Indeed, it was in that year that the company first appeared as occupying No. 6 The Bund in a locally published Shanghai directory. the P & 0 Banking Corporation, occupied the building for most of the 1920s and 1930s. They temporarily vacated their premises in 1936 and 1937 to allow extensive renovation work to take place on the building—inside and out. As part of the scheme, its red brick face, which had become unfashionable in a period of Art Deco inspired modernism, was smothered with a plain coating. Today, no interior trace is left of its Victorian heritage or of its 1930s makeover and the building’s exterior has a brand-new icing cake finish.
In 2002, the building was restored to accommodate commercial tenant.