Shanghai Art Deco

15/09/2025

A pioneer of Shanghai’s Art Deco, too. Rest in peace, Tess, and thank you.

It is with profound sadness that we announce the death of Tess Johnston, our beloved friend, mentor, and co-founder.

Tess pioneered the study of pre-1949 Shanghai, beginning at a time when the city’s historic buildings and their stories were ignored, and continuing for over 35 years. Her books and talks preserved the historic city before it changed beyond recognition and captured its stories, and she generously shared her knowledge with a generation of writers, scholars, and Shanghailanders.

Her groundbreaking work was a labor of deep love for the city, and continues to resonate for of all of us who love and explore Old Shanghai.

Farewell, Tess, and thank you with all our hearts.

For more on Tess, her story and her contributions: https://www.historic-shanghai.com/tess-johnston-shanghais-preservation-pioneer/

Frank Langfitt's exit interview as she prepared to leave Shanghai in 2016 is a classic: https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2016/04/07/472258492/after-decades-a-shanghai-preservationist-heads-home-to-america

01/09/2025

, Delastre Apartments (Dronnikoff & Tomashevsky, 1941), Taiyuan Lu/Rue Delastre, from a long-ago winter morning.

18/08/2025

, Huaihai Villas (Xi Fuquan, 1947). Delightful Deco details, and oh, the stories! Hidden frescoes, a clever concubine’s party palace, a collaborator, even a warlord.

It’s on Saturday’s Chinese Modern walk, featuring the work of China’s first-generation architects- who should get much more profile than they do!

Saturday August 23, 10am
RMB 200 members, 300 nonmembers
To register: https://jinshuju.com/f/UCk0Ef
Or email [email protected]

12/08/2025

Four Art Deco enclaves. One morning.

The “Metro Art Deco” tour takes you to four different parts of the city by metro, to see legends and landmarks, quiet lanes and hidden histories of the age of Art Deco in Shanghai.

It’s rare to be able to see so much of the city’s Art Deco in one morning—join us!

Saturday August 16, 10am
Metro Art Deco - A citywide tour
RMB 200 members, 300 nonmembers
Register: https://jinshuju.com/f/UCk0Ef
or email [email protected]

08/08/2025

Friday night lights, Shanghai Art Deco style. The Paramount (1933, S.C. Young), once Shanghai’s largest and most glamorous dance hall. Back in the day, when you were ready to go, your car number would flash up in the tower, and your chauffeur would pull up to the entrance.

05/08/2025

A sunny (with laundry) from all that’s left of what must have been a stunning lane neighborhood on Wulumuqi Lu/Route Magy.

There are just four Art Deco shikumen houses left (you can find them between the red and green awnings, but no one ever goes.) Perhaps no one even notices the building anymore - it’s just the building with the gelato shop that has the longest line.

If you look closely at the zig, you can see where the name of the lane neighborhood was inscribed, and obliterated decades ago - how very bourgeois it must’ve been!

04/08/2025

Perspectives on the of the Empire Mansions (1931, Y.C. Huang of Kyetay Architects) for your .

01/08/2025

For August, it’s the lovely Liberty.

29/07/2025

: our latest addition to the bookshelf, by our friends at Art Deco Philippines - such a gorgeous book, makes us want to take the next flight!

28/07/2025

from the Hillier (again - it’s the building that keeps on giving!). Because some portholes deserve video.

Hear the cicadas in the plane trees? So very !

27/07/2025

from the Hillier Apartments, 1940, Leonard Veysseyre & Kruze, on Maoming Lu.

25/07/2025

from a window display on Rte Vallon/Nanchang Lu. We’re calling it .