Unknown author Unknown author
Sun Sun Department Store
- Design firm
- Kwan, Chu & Co.
- Typology
- Other
- Years
- 1923–1926
- Status
- Complete
Facade facts
- Facade summary
- A transitional Art Deco and Eclectic commercial facade featuring a highly glazed retail ground floor, a textured artificial-stone upper body with simplified giant pilasters,and a decorative landmark tower.
- Documented intention
- Designed to maximize retail exposure at the ground level while presenting a modern,imposing, and progressive corporate image on the upper levels.
- Street relationship
- Maintains a direct, continuous alignment with the Nanjing Road street wall, contributing to the urban canyon effect while using storefront lighting to illuminate the pedestrian pavement.
- Climate relationship
- Deep-set windows and structural framing help reduce direct solar heat gain inside the deep-plan department store layout.
- Window pattern
- Regular rectangular grid pattern.
- Glazing
- Single glazing (historic), upgraded to modern safety double glazing during renovations.
- Depth
- Relatively flat with shallow relief provided by simplified pilasters and cornices.
- Rhythm
- Regular vertical rhythm established by giant-order pilasters spanning multiple intermediate floors.
- Shanghai Plaster (Artificial Stone / Wash-stone)
- Shanghai Plaster (Artificial Stone/ Wash-stone) — Primary cladding of upper levels and pilasters — Granular,textured,simulated-stone finish
- Glass
- Glass — Ground floor display windows and punched upper-level windows — Smooth
- Reinforced Concrete
- Reinforced Concrete — Internal structure with load-bearing perimeter beams — Structural
- Reinforced Concrete Frame
- Reinforced concrete structural skeletal frame with brick masonry infill walls.
- Shanghai Plaster Finish (Wash-stone)
- Artisanal site-applied cementitious plaster mixed with small stone chips, then washed or scrubbed to reveal texture,mimicking dressed granite blocks.
Tags
- 1921–1930
- Bronze
- Canvas Awnings
- Cfa (Humid Subtropical)
- China
- Chu & Co.
- Commercial retail
- Dense urban retail corridor
- Eclecticism
- Glass
- Interwar Period
- Kwan
- Kwan Sung-sing
- Large-plate Display Glazing
- Maintains a direct
- Masonry Infill
- Other
- Regular rectangular grid pattern.
- Reinforced concrete frame
- Retail
- Rhythmic Punched Openings
- Shanghai
- Shanghai Municipality
- Shanghai Plaster
- Shanghai Plaster (Artificial Stone
- Shanghai Plaster Coating
- Single glazing (historic)
- Storefront Glazing
- Wash-stone)
- and a decorative landmark tower.
- and restaurant on upper levels.
- concrete
- historically hosting a radio station
- hotel
- imposing
- mimicking dressed granite blocks.
- reinforced concrete
- simulated-stone finish
- textured
Description
The Sun Sun Department Store features a structural frame of reinforced concrete which is expressed externally through a regular, classical bay system. The ground and mezzanine floors are treated as a unified, highly transparent base featuring large display windows. The third through fifth floors are grouped using giant-order pilasters with simplified geometric capitals, which draw the eye upward and showcase an early Art Deco influence. The building's corner is subtly emphasized, leading up to a stepped-back roof terrace and a multi-tiered tower that once housed China's first private radio broadcast facility.
Visual analysis
The facade appears solid yet accessible, blending the gravity of simulated stone with the openness of modern department store fenestration.
Sources
- Shanghai Art Deco · Tess Johnston and Deke Erh
- The Architecture of Art Deco in Shanghai · Shanghai Municipal Heritage Bureau