Union Church - Shanghai - 1886*
Cnr Soochow Rd South, Shanghai.
This church building is a recent reconstruction (2010) of the original church which was built in the Gothic style with Romanesque touches in 1886; the original was designed by architect William Dowdall and was built of blue-grey and red brick. A Sunday School Hall and a manse were added in 1899 and the church was enlarged in 1901. Occupying a prominent position on the southern bank of the Soochow Creek, the church and its 108ft (33m) octagonal spire were familiar landmarks to generations of river-borne traffic.
Being a non-Conformist church, the congregation consisted of all Free Church denominations (ie: those Christians who were not of the mainstream Anglican, Church of Scotland or Roman Catholic faiths). Sunday services were held at 11am and 6pm with Prayer Meetings held on Wednesdays at 5:30pm, Lord's Supper on the first Sunday of the month with meetings of the Christian Endeavour Society, Literary & Social Guild, Boys' Brigade, singing lessons all keeping the weekly church calendar busy.
After the Communist party took power in 1949, the church building represented the twin hated symbols of the past; being both a symbol of religion and of foreigners. During those dark decades, the spire was removed by Red Guards and heaping more indignity, the church was converted into a factory. Ugly modern walls covered the ecclesiastical architecture from the passing public. For a photo of the church taken in 2003, go to fellow flickrite lowcola's shot at www.flickr.com/photos/lowcola/2667079077 . Its past was further erased by a damaging fire in 2007. Completely re-built in 2010 (using many of the original bricks and stone capitals), the church is part of the Rock Bund regeneration project and provides a popular backdrop for wedding couples and their team of photographers, hairdressers and assistants; oh the delicious irony and how those Red Guards would be spinning in their graves!
Union Church - Shanghai - 1886*
Cnr Soochow Rd South, Shanghai.
This church building is a recent reconstruction (2010) of the original church which was built in the Gothic style with Romanesque touches in 1886; the original was designed by architect William Dowdall and was built of blue-grey and red brick. A Sunday School Hall and a manse were added in 1899 and the church was enlarged in 1901. Occupying a prominent position on the southern bank of the Soochow Creek, the church and its 108ft (33m) octagonal spire were familiar landmarks to generations of river-borne traffic.
Being a non-Conformist church, the congregation consisted of all Free Church denominations (ie: those Christians who were not of the mainstream Anglican, Church of Scotland or Roman Catholic faiths). Sunday services were held at 11am and 6pm with Prayer Meetings held on Wednesdays at 5:30pm, Lord's Supper on the first Sunday of the month with meetings of the Christian Endeavour Society, Literary & Social Guild, Boys' Brigade, singing lessons all keeping the weekly church calendar busy.
After the Communist party took power in 1949, the church building represented the twin hated symbols of the past; being both a symbol of religion and of foreigners. During those dark decades, the spire was removed by Red Guards and heaping more indignity, the church was converted into a factory. Ugly modern walls covered the ecclesiastical architecture from the passing public. For a photo of the church taken in 2003, go to fellow flickrite lowcola's shot at www.flickr.com/photos/lowcola/2667079077 . Its past was further erased by a damaging fire in 2007. Completely re-built in 2010 (using many of the original bricks and stone capitals), the church is part of the Rock Bund regeneration project and provides a popular backdrop for wedding couples and their team of photographers, hairdressers and assistants; oh the delicious irony and how those Red Guards would be spinning in their graves!