Shikumen, meaning stone gate houses, first appeared in the 1870s. They were modeled after traditional Chinese courtyard homes and became the popular housing architectural style by the turn of the 20th century. These are gated communities where all the action happened at street level within the alleys. Zhangyuan was named after Zhang Shuhe, a wealthy grains shipper from Wuxi who bought a piece of farmland here in 1882 from a British merchant, Francis Groom. He built a Western-style garden for his mother. After she passed away in 1885, the garden was opened to the public, and saw a number of firsts, including the first lit electric lamp in the country, the first bicycle race, and first outdoor photo booth. It turned into an arts and culture hub for the city.The park closed in 1918 and developers started building residences here and construction continued past the Communist revolution in 1949. It became a huge shikumen zone with blocks of 3-storey buildings. I came exploring in 2012, not expecting the residents would eventually be evicted by 2020 for redevelopment. In fact, I was more interested in the partially-destroyed neighbourhoods in Huangpu at the time. Visit this gallery for the results in 2023.
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