Old type Shikumen

an old image of xingren li (street front buildings pictured), typical old type shikumen development period.



a shikumen lane in zhenxing li



a traditional chinese matou ( horse head ) style gable - more typical of old type shikumen - seen @ jianye li, new type shikumen development.

early period old type shikumen built between 1869 , 1910. retained more of style of traditional chinese houses, condensed footprint. there typically 3 5 bays each dwelling, , 2 storeys. used traditional litie (立帖) (or brick nogging ) style of brick veneer load-bearing walls. houses possessed walls of equal height @ front , back, each dwelling (despite being part of terrace) enclosed whole, separated outside world. made them popular upper end of residential property market.

the period shikumen possessed more features of traditional chinese architecture: on external façade of terrace there typically chinese matou ( horse head ) style or guanyin dou ( guanyin hood ) style gables; main hall uses floor-to-ceiling windows; decorative boards below eaves; , grid windows on side wings. however, in contrast later shikumen buildings, gates of period shikumen not elaborately decorated, , framed in stone. in terms of layout, shikumen of period arranged in lanes of 3 metres wide - narrower later buildings - , attention orientation, , organization of trunk lanes , branch lanes, both features of later shikumen, absent.

in terms of internal lay-out, within main gate front courtyard (tianjing 天井), flanked wings (xiangfang 厢房) of house on left , right. @ centre, facing courtyard hall, or ketang jian (客堂间). large room typically has area of 12 square metres, , used modern sitting room or living room. on either side of hall cijian (次间) or secondary rooms . stairs reach first floor located behind cijian. behind hall , cijian courtyard (houtianjing 后天井), half size of front courtyard. well, provided water house, located here (though later houses connected tap water instead). @ of courtyard buildings, used kitchen, toilet , storage room. on whole, each dwelling preserved main features required traditional chinese day-to-day living, while saving land required.

most period old style shikumen have been demolished or rebuilt. representative examples include xingren li, built in 1872 (demolished 1980), , mianyang li , jixiang li, both located near shiliupu dock area.

late period

an empty lane in east siwen li, before demolition began

late period shikumen built between 1910 , 1919. three-bay wide frontage 2 side wings reduced one- or two-bay wide, 1 side wing. courtyard reduced, more attention paid natural lighting, , laneways widened. more western architectural details found favour: bannisters, doors , windows, staircase, pillar capitals , arch buttresses used western decorative styles. lintel of main gate became increasingly elaborate, decorated semicircular archivolts, triangular pediments or rectangular architraves.

late period old type shikumen far better preserved period examples. representative examples include west , east siwen li (in process of being demolished), north shude li, , daqing li, built in 1915. 1 of few old type shikumen developments preserved largely intact bugao li, or cité bourgogne (built in 1930s), in former french concession.