László Ede Hudec or Ladislav Hudec was one of foreign architects who fled his native Austro – Hungary country during troubled times and had spent 29 of his 65 years in Shanghai, from November 1918 to January 1947. Today can only be described as a legend, as he ended up stamping his class in more than 50 projects, including more than 100 buildings. Among them, 25 projects have been listed as Shanghai Excellent Historical Buildings.
He came to the city alone with nothing but a broken heart and an injured leg, both souvenirs of war. And he left with wealth, reputation, a family and a rainbow of architectural heritage.
From the 1920s to 1940s Shanghai was undergoing massive development, which coincided with Hudec’s stay. He arrived at the right place at the right time, where innovative ideas and great buildings were mushrooming. With excellent skills and brilliant management, he soon became a star architect.
Hudec completed 60 % of his works between 1927 and 1937.His works have been varied – from offices, hotels, hospitals, churches, cinemas, schools, factories, apartments to private residences that were a kaleidoscope of styles, including Classicism, Eclecticism, Expressionism, Art Deco , Modernism and Regionalism. The quantity, quality and variety of his works were rarity even by world standards, especially in the history of architecture. He had the ability and flexibility to adapt to different clients. Together with his Chinese clients he came up with some stunning creations. His smart approach to modernism and diversification, between Chinese and Western cultures, was the spirit behind Shanghai culture.
Hudec’s main style is reflected in the integrated geometry, varied form, rich detail and original ideas. His thinking never dried out, and among his projects, the motive has never been the same, which is indeed rare for an architect.
While you are probably already familiar with his most famous works : Park Hotel, The Grand Theater and Moore Memorial Church, you may not know about these architectural gems he designed as well.
1.Country hospital
Location: No.221 West Yan’an Rd (near Middle Wulumuqi Rd), Jing’an District
In 1920s, one mysterious and heirless American businessman living in Shanghai had a dream. He wanted to build a luxurious hospital for expats with central air-conditioning and a bathroom in each ward. He donated funds to build the Country Hospital in 1926, which is the No.1 building of today’s Huadong Hospital which looks after senior citizens.
The businessman asked Hudec to design the high-end hospital for Shanghai expatriates. He insisted on the highest standards and the best facilities, and there was no budget limit! The benefactor also asked Hudec to keep his identity secret, or the contract would be canceled.
The Country Hospital was was Hudec’s first important project in his independent career. It’s in classical style and covers 2,300 square meters.
The ground floor consists of double-columned arched windows and a continuous arcade, a design to prevent strong summer sunlight. The second to fourth floor are treated with a unified approach. The fifth floor and the parapet are designed as three imposing pediments and make a powerful impression on visitors.
On completion, it was considered the best hospital in the Far East with the Shanghai Sunday Times newspaper commenting :'The rural, restful early Italian Renaissance effect reminds visitors of the courtyard and rooms of a villa in Tuscany’.
Unfortunately, the building is not opened to the public.
2. Hudec’s residence
Location:No.129 Panyu Rd (near Pingwu Rd),Changning District)
The fanciful house designed by Hudec as his own home is hidden from the often – jammed Panyu road. This Tudorbethan villa and its untended garden comprise a small wonderland – quiet and secluded from the city’s hustle and bustle just some few meters away.
Hudec had three residences in Shanghai and the three-story house on 57 Columbia Road (now 129 Panyu Road),built in 1930, was the second one.
It’s a white-wall building highlighted by contrasting dark-wood half timbering frames. The towering red-brick chimneys stand at each end of the sloping roof that is covered by beautiful slate tiles. Three sets of Gothic windows and a round arched door are on the ground floor.A big garden lies to the south.
Hudec and his family lived in the villa from 1931 to 1936, but they later moved to another Hudec building, Hubertus Court (today known as the Da Hua Hotel) on West Yan’an Road because of poor drainage that made the house very humid and unhealthy.
After 1949, the house was used as a middle school. The ground floor of the house has been renovated to the Hudec Memorial Hall.
3.D.V. Woo’s residence
Location:No.333 Tongren Rd (near West Beijing Rd), Jing’an District
It’s a signature Hudec work in his prime. This modern-style garden villa was formerly the largest and most luxurious residence in the Far East. Covering an area of 1,700 square meters, it was nicknamed “green house” because of green-colored glazed tiles on the façade and surrounding walls.
D.V.Woo was a famous merchant who sold pigments in old Shanghai. When Shanghai’s economy was dragged down by international silver crisis in 1935, his commissioned work was a true savior for Hudec’s firm.
The residence showcases the essence of organic architecture. It has an accurate and concise layout, which merges perfectly with the base. The main body approaches the road on the north, which connects with the curved surrounding walls on the corner as a unity.
The building was divided into two parts according to its functions.
The Western-style social space including a bar, a billiard room, a dining hall and a main bedroom face an open garden.
The Chinese-style sitting hall, the ancestral room and servants’ room on the northern side are in a more closed style.
It became famous as the first private residence in Shanghai with an electric elevator!
The ground and first floor were used as the club for Shanghai Association for Industry and Commerce after 1949.D.V. Woo and his mistress committed suicide in their favorite ‘green house’ at the start of the Cultural Revolution.
After 1978 it was used by the Shanghai Urban Planning and Design Institution as its office.
4.Sun Ke’s residence
Location:No.1262 West Yan’an Road ( near Panyu Rd), Changning District
Sun Ke was the only son of Dr. Sun Yat-sen. The three – story cream painted villa sits amidst the lush gardens of the state – owned Shanghai Biochemical Research Institute which has used the house as its office since 1950s.
Hudec built the house in the late 1920s as his own residence, but sold it to Sun Ke at a low price because of a favor Sun had done for him.
The overall style is typical Spanish, from its sloping roof topped by red mission tiles, pointed – arch atrium, spiral columns and yellow stucco shaped like scales on the wall. However, small elements of the building combine also Tuscan and Baroque influence.
The building is not open to the public but part of its appearance can be appreciated through the walls on the Panyu Road.
5.Hubertus court
Location:No.918 West Yan’an Road( Near Jiangsu Road), Changning District
Nicknamed the ‘Little Park Hotel’, it was not only designed but also invested by Hudec, who spent his last ten years in Shanghia in this ten-story apartment building.
Due to the growing population and decreasing land, tall apartment buildings became the norm instead of office buildings and garden villas after the 1930s.
Hudec registered his own developing company , the Hubertus Properties Fed,Inc at Amaerican Consulate Shanghai .Hubertus Court was the main project of his company.
The simple shape and smooth horizontal lines of the building reflect a strong influence of modern European residence. Some architecture magazines from Spain and Japan reported on the building and compared it with a group of residential buildings in England, Prague and Milan. It used to be the tallest building among a group of traditional Chinese buildings in the region.
Hubertus court was renovated as Dahua Hotel after 1949.A three -story building in the south and a four-story building in the east were added to the hotel afterwards.
It was listed as Shanghai Excellent Historical Building for Preservation in 1999.It reopened as a boutique hotel at the end of 2013 after a year-long renovation.
6. Ho Tung’s residence
Location:No.457 North Shaanxi Rd 9 near West Beijing Rd), Jing’an District
The residence of Hong Kong tycoon Sir Robert Ho Tung mirrored another Hudec work – tycoon Liu Jisheng’s residence on Julu Road.
Both villas are his early works and are neoclassical in style. Ho’s villas was initially designed for Wm Katz, director of the Shanghai Plant of Hoechts Chemicals, who later sold it to Ho Tung.
The first thing that impresses any visitor is the building’s east gate. It’s graced by a huge lintel with triangular decoration and two lonic columns that support a mini-balcony.
The highlights of the house are white French windows in interestingly different shapes and sizes, a flat roof surrounded with parapets and railings.
Inside it retains strikingly beautiful black-and-white marble floor and the original grand spiral staircase with its patterned iron railings.
Ho’s family returned to Hong Kong after 1949 and the state-owned Shanghai Lexicographical Publishing House used the villa after 1958.It was renovated and then leased to a company providing service offices mainly for foreign companies.
7. Liu Jisheng’s residence
Location:675 Julu Rd ( near South Shaanxi Rd), Jing’an District
It is the most romantic of Hudec’s work. It was a gift from a Shanghai tycoon to his wife Rose on her 40th birthday. Today it is widely known as ‘the Garden of Psyche’ since the Greek – style house boasts a stunning centerpiece in the garden – a 1.5 – meter- high white marble statue of Psyche with four angels and springs of water filling a butterfly-shaped pool beneath her feet. Hudec had got the statue sculpted in Italy as a gift and it was to become the soul of this garden.
Allegedly, Hudec had drawn inspiration from the Greek myth of Eros and Psyche. Even the column styles and the garden layout of the villa resemble the masterpiece “The Bath of Psyche” by British artist Frederic Leighon.
The three-floor villa is designed in Italian Renaissance style in a symmetrical layout. Hudec had also designed all the details of the garden from stone chairs to flowerpots.
The first floor features giant halls where large-scale banquets and balls were held.The second floor was Liu and Rose’s bedroom and for VIP guests. The children slept on the third floor.
The family left Shanghai for Hong Kong in 1948. The villa became the office of the Shanghai Writers’ Association after 1952.
The statue of Psyche , the soul of the garden villa, survived the upheavals of the Cultural Revolution thanks to its former gardener, who buried it under straw in a greenhouse.
The beautiful garden has served as a set for dozens of movies and TV plays. Unfortunately, the building is not open to the public.
8. The 22 residences on Julu Road (former Route Ratard)
Location: 868-892 Julu Rd(near Changshu Rd), Jing’an District
Hudec had served for two influential banking institutions in Shanghai. One was the Joint Savings Society and the other International Savings Society. He had designed at least three important projects for the International Savings Society: its headquarters on No.7 Avenue Edward VII (demolished when the Yan’an Road elevated highway was built), famous Normandie Apartments and rarely known 22 Residences on today’s Julu Road.
The 22 residences were arranged in the shape of a big “L”, 14 of which were row houses facing the Julu Road. The remaining eight houses were flanked on both sides of a side lane.
The villas were designed according to two standard layouts, with a porch, an entrance hall, a sitting room, a dining hall, a kitchen on the first floor and three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a loggia on the second. The loft also featured two rooms and the servants’ rooms.
Hudec had designed facades in four styles to avoid uniform appearances, which varied from the sloping room, the loggia, the entrance and the details of textures,Every villa was fronted with spacious lawns.
The 22 villas on Julu Road were listed as Shanghai Excellent Historical Buildings in 1999.
9. PC Woo’s Residence
Location:No.6 Lane 315 Shimen 1.Rd (near West Nanjing Rd), Jing’an District
It’s a well-designed, well preserved but little known work of Hudec .
This three-story, 2,000- square meter building was designed in 1931 to serve as the private residence of a wealthy Chinese family surnamed Woo, whose identity is still a myth. Today it serves as Gonghui Hospital under the management of the Shanghai Labor Union to serve low-income patients.
Tucked away in a deep lane and hidden behind the clinic hall, this beautiful building was designed in rich Spanish style with added eclectic elements.
The façade was composed of typical Spanish architectural elements, such as Spanish roof tiles, open loggia, spiral columns and cast iron railings. The element of pointed arch repeated on the windows, on the porch and even on the chimney.
The interior was luxurious where East-met-West. The centerpiece was a gorgeously curved staircase, which was always stylish like in all Hudec’s work.
P.C.Woo’s residence is still not a listed historical building, so little attention has been paid to it over the years.And that has made it uncharted and very unique – a building standing in the middle of the garden, surrounded by Spanish columns, green ivy and the strong scent of Chinese herbs.
Information source:
'Shanghai Hudec Architecture' Hua Xiahong Michelle Qiao