Former HSBC Building

You are standing before one of the Bund’s most majestic buildings, the former headquarters of HSBC, the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. Built between 1921 and 1923 by the British architects Palmer and Turner, it was considered the most luxurious building in all of Asia, even described as the most beautiful structure between the Suez Canal and the Bering Strait. Its neoclassical style, with a granite façade and Ionic columns, reflects the elegance and authority of British colonial finance. At the top, the large copper dome houses magnificent mosaics depicting the major cities where HSBC operated in the 20s, including London, Paris, New York, Hong Kong, Tokyo and of course Shanghai, artworks that were hidden for decades beneath layers of plaster during the Communist period before being rediscovered and restored in 1997. At the entrance, two monumental lions still stand guard, known as Stephen and Stitt, named after the bank’s directors at the time, with one roaring to protect and the other calm to preserve prosperity, a symbolic pairing that has endured. Since 1995 the building has been home to the Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, but when you look at it today, with its dome and perfectly balanced lines, you can still feel the spirit of an era when Shanghai was the financial heartbeat of Asia, a true crossroads between East and West.