Holy Trinity Cathedral - Shanghai - 1869
Cnr Hankow Rd & Kiangse Rd, International Settlement.
Built in the Gothic Revival style, this striking red brick church was the Anglican place of worship for Shanghai's British community and along with the nearby Shanghai Club and the Shanghai Race Club formed the 'holy trinity' of British social life in the city.
Whilst not officially part of the British Empire, the British dominated Shanghai's trade, government through the Municipal Council and were protected by garrisoned troops and Royal Navy gunboats. Reflecting the lofty ideals of the church trustees, the plans for this church were prepared by the prolific George Gilbert Scott, one of Britain's foremost architects of the Gothic Revival style; he was responsible, inter alia, for St Pancras Station and St Mary's Cathedral in Edinburgh. Scott's original plans, however, were to fall foul of the same church trustees as being too costly and they commissioned Shanghai-based architect William Kidner to modify Scott's plans.
The church was open for worship on 1 August 1869 and was quickly known as the "Red Church" by the locals. Church services were held on Sundays at 11am and 6pm with Holy Communion taken at 8am. Westminster chimes once sounded from the freestanding bell tower which was raised in 1893.
According to Macmillan's "Seaports of the Far East" (1907), "the services are elaborately choral, and eminently calculated to appeal to the aesthetically sensuous type of religious mind, a type of religious character which is prevalent in, and apparently fostered by, the life of languorous and voluptuous ease which many Europeans live in tropical or subtropical lands."
Like many western buildings in China, the twin calamities of the Japanese Occupation during WWII and the coming to power of the Communists shortly thereafter spelt doom for this building. After decades of abandonment, neglect and architectural vandalism during the Cultural Revolution, the cathedral is now completing its painstaking renovation although it remains closed to the public. The photo captures some of the exquisite detailing of the architecture including the use of polychrome bricks and the rebuilt spire which had been smashed by Mao's Red Guards.
Holy Trinity Cathedral - Shanghai - 1869
Cnr Hankow Rd & Kiangse Rd, International Settlement.
Built in the Gothic Revival style, this striking red brick church was the Anglican place of worship for Shanghai's British community and along with the nearby Shanghai Club and the Shanghai Race Club formed the 'holy trinity' of British social life in the city.
Whilst not officially part of the British Empire, the British dominated Shanghai's trade, government through the Municipal Council and were protected by garrisoned troops and Royal Navy gunboats. Reflecting the lofty ideals of the church trustees, the plans for this church were prepared by the prolific George Gilbert Scott, one of Britain's foremost architects of the Gothic Revival style; he was responsible, inter alia, for St Pancras Station and St Mary's Cathedral in Edinburgh. Scott's original plans, however, were to fall foul of the same church trustees as being too costly and they commissioned Shanghai-based architect William Kidner to modify Scott's plans.
The church was open for worship on 1 August 1869 and was quickly known as the "Red Church" by the locals. Church services were held on Sundays at 11am and 6pm with Holy Communion taken at 8am. Westminster chimes once sounded from the freestanding bell tower which was raised in 1893.
According to Macmillan's "Seaports of the Far East" (1907), "the services are elaborately choral, and eminently calculated to appeal to the aesthetically sensuous type of religious mind, a type of religious character which is prevalent in, and apparently fostered by, the life of languorous and voluptuous ease which many Europeans live in tropical or subtropical lands."
Like many western buildings in China, the twin calamities of the Japanese Occupation during WWII and the coming to power of the Communists shortly thereafter spelt doom for this building. After decades of abandonment, neglect and architectural vandalism during the Cultural Revolution, the cathedral is now completing its painstaking renovation although it remains closed to the public. The photo captures some of the exquisite detailing of the architecture including the use of polychrome bricks and the rebuilt spire which had been smashed by Mao's Red Guards.