Page:Twentieth Century Impressions of Hongkong, Shanghai, and other Treaty Ports of China.djvu/383

Rh front is the Chinese Customs House. Designed in the Tudor style of architecture it is built of red brick with facings of green Ningpo stone, the high-pitched roofs being covered with red French tiles. From the centre a square clock tower containing a four-faced clock with Westminster chimes rises to a height of 110 feet and divides the building into two wings. Close to the Yang-king-pang stands the Shanghai Club House. The premises, which were erected in 1864, at a cost of £42,000, are now in course of demolition. Their place is to be taken by a new building of six storeys in the English Renaissance style, surrounded by turrets and constructed of imitation Portland stone with columns of Tsingtao granite. In the meantime the members, who number 1,300, find temporary accommodation in Jinkee Road, and are granted the use of the German Club on special terms. The Masonic fraternity have a splendid hall, approached by a double flight of steps, in a free treatment of the Renaissance style, but so great is the demand upon it that it is about to make way for still more commodious premises. Near by are the British Consulate-General and Supreme Court standing in the midst of verdant lawns on the south bank of the Soochow Creek. The site, which is six acres in extent, was acquired by Sir Rutherford Alcock, in 1848, and was formerly occupied by a half-demolished Chinese fort surrounded by ditches and quagmires. The first Consulate, built in 1852, was destroyed by fire on December 23, 1870. In the grounds a stone slab, laid in position by Mr. W. Medhurst, a former consul, in April, 1873, defines the geographical position as latitude 31 degrees 14′42″ N. and longitude 121 degrees 29′ 12″ E. A few yards along the Soochow Road, which starts at this point, is the Union Church, built in the Early English style, with a tower surmounted by an octagonal spire rising to a height of 108 feet. Opposite is the Rowing Club's boat-house, and a little way beyond this are the gardens for the use of Chinese residents.

Across the Soochow Creek lies Hongkew. This was originally the American quarter, but was amalgamated with the so-called British Settlement in 1863. Until 1867 the only means of crossing from one Settlement to the other was by ferry-boat; now communication is maintained by means of seven bridges. The first of these was built by a private company, who levied a toll upon all who used it, and refused every offer that was made to them to part with their monopoly until the Municipal Council adopted the expedient of constructing another wooden bridge alongside in 1873. When tramways were introduced in March, 1908, this bridge, known as the Garden Bridge, was replaced by a steel structure, 60 feet in width with a carriage-way of 36 feet 9 inches. The new bridge, which is not conspicuous for its beauty, owing to the heavy superstructure, has two equal spans of 171 feet. Facing it on the Hongkew side is Astor House, the leading hotel of Shanghai. The building occupies a prominent site at the corner of Broadway and Whangpoo Road, but has an unpretentious appearance, and is about to be reconstructed. Next to it is the new German Church, a handsome edifice surmounted by a graceful spire, and containing over the altar an oil painting presented by the Kaiser. Immediately opposite, and overlooking the river, is the German Consulate, and in the