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No 5 THE NKK BUILDING - SHANGHAI
No. 5 The
NKK
Building
NKK
had inhabited a
collection of old buildings on the corner of the Bund and Guangdong Road,
formerly used by a Japanese
fire insurance company, in 1907. By 191 the
buildings within the compound of the Japanese Nisshin Kisen Kaisha Shipping Co.
were, by their own admission, regarded as an eyesore and they commissioned
Lester, Johnson and Morriss to design their new
Renaissance-style premises. The
building was completed in late 1921. NKK’s presence on the Bund, alongside other
Japanese
interests, was indicative of the growing influence of Japan in China
following the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. The company
was formed in 1907
upon the amalgamation of the Osaka Shosen Kaisha (OSK) and other Japanese
shipping lines. Two OSK mail
steamers, under contract to the Imperial Japanese
Government, were first put into service on the Yangtsze River in 1898 signalling
the first threat to Chinese and British dominance on China’s most important
waterway. Less than 40 years later all British vessels were
banished from the
river by the Japanese.
One of the earliest applicants for a space in the new building was a Japanese
entrepreneur who wished to open a Turkish bath and
restaurant in part of the
basement. In recent times, the building has again been open to businesses
seeking a Bond address in quite
a different manner to those of its neighbours.
Sections of the building, which is owned by the Shanghai Shipping Company, have
been leased on short-term agreements by a few individualistic entrepreneurs.
Part of the basement is now occupied by a British-run bar and part of the first
floor is occupied by Design Republic, a lifestyle
design showcase established by
Lyndon Neri and Rossana Ru. Three on the Bund also have their offices in the
building.
It was, however, the transformation of the roof of the building into the now
legendary M on the Bund in 1999, the Bond’s first
independently
operated eatery in modern times, which set the benchmark for the subsequent
development of restaurants and
cultural venues that were to follow. M on the
Bund expanded its premises in the building with the opening of the Glamour Bar,
below the restaurant, in June 2006.
Text copyright Peter Hibberd 2008
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