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 engshan
Moller Villa, located
at No.30 Shan Xi S. Road of
Shanghai, was founded in
1927 and it was completed in
1936. It is a villa in the
style of Norwegian
Architecture of northern
Europe. Reputed as a Villa
of Dreams, this villa is
integrated with the elite of
oriental architecture and
western architecture. Moller
Villa used to be the private
residence of Moller, a
British merchant prince. The
founder of Moller Villa,
Moller Eric came to Shanghai
in 1919. He ascended among
the "Horse Race Nightclub"
with his race horses as the
capital. He became the
taipan of the nightclub
after two or three years.
And then he was engaged in
business of shipping and
real estate, getting one of
the wealthiest merchants in
Shanghai. Mr. Moller made a
pet of his youngest
daughter. When he learnt
that she longed for a castle
just as one in Andersen's
fairy tale very much, Moller,
who loved daughter a lot,
invited architects from
different places to design a
private residence with
garden entitled his name
according to what were
described in Andersen's
fairy tales to make his
daughter's dream come true
and wish his own shipping
career flourishing.
 Reputed
as a Villa of Dreams, this
villa is integrated with the
elite of oriental
architecture and western
architecture. It is worthy
of a world-shaking work. You
will be deeply moved and
dream away as soon as you
merely look at its
appearance. The sharp
steeples and fluctuant eaves
look like snowcovered peaks
and tableland, strewn at
random. The changeful uneven
walls form the unique
architectural appearance and
the well-arranged colorful
firebricks put a beautiful
dress on the building.
Moller Villa has a garden
covering an area of about
2000 square meters. There is
a bronze statue of racehorse
on the lawn in the middle of
the garden, under which the
racehorse via which Moller
got rich in those years was
buried. Meteorites of
different sizes and various
kinds of stone lion, stone
dog and stone drum etc. may
be seen everywhere in the
garden. The most precious
stuff in the garden is the
petrified wood with more
than one hundred million
years' experience. Besides,
a beacon was placed at the
gate. It went without saying
that it symbolized the
shipping business of Moller.
In order to beatify the
scenery and make it
convenient for appreciating
flowers indoors, there is
also a greenhouse in the
garden, equipped with
central heating system. The
room is decorated with
delicate carve patterns and
the floor is paved with
colorful ceramic tiles. The
tall bounding wall around
the garden is covered with
firebricks and capped with
green-yellow Chinese glazed
tiles. A couple of
Chinese-style stone lions
sit at the gate, which fully
embodies the architectural
motif that Moller combined
the oriental culture with
the western culture.
Shanghai Municipal Committee
of the Communist Youth
League began to handle
official business in this
building since 1949. It was
ranked among the first batch
of Neoteric Excellent
Protective Buildings of
Shanghai in 1989. In January
2001, it was put under the
management of Henghan
(Group) Company, a large
travel group in Shanghai. It
was rebuilt into a small
exquisite hotel and formally
went into operation in May
2002. It was named Hengshan
Moller Villa. |
