PRESERVING AND BEAUTIFYING SHANGHAI

Spaces beautified/improved by advertising
1. Introducing "Art" Billboard and "First Class" hoardings in Shanghai
  1. Oriental Advertising Agency (1922-1923)
    1. U1-14-3258 (2488)
    2. U1-14-3258 (2474-1475)
2. "Artistic" Hoardings in lieu of bamboo fences
  1. Millington, Ltd. (1928-1932)
    1. I can assure you that they will be good boards, well designed, perfectly safe and secure, and much pleasanter sight to loot at than an old bamboo fence. (...) I have stopped all work on the project pending your decision and this will place two salesmen, five artists, ten carpenters and five painters idle for the time being although I have them on contract with a time limit. I plead, therefore, for an immediate decision, if at all possible, so that my losses may be reduced to a mininum.
    2. Might we point out that if these hoardings are torn down they could only be replaced by an unsightly bamboo fence and this would expose to view a very ugly piece of ground which is at the moment covered with debris and broken trees, whilst the backs of the properties on Avenue Rod would be disclosed. / We respectfully submit, therefore, that the hoarding in question is undoubtedly more attractive that what would be put in place and, at the moment, hides from view a sight that would not improve Bubbling Well Road.
  2. Carl Crow, Inc. (1922)
  3. Oriental Advertising Agency (1923)
  4. Advertising hoardings on the frontage of the Metropole Hotel building site. September 15, 1930 (在建的新城饭店，上海，1930年9月，英国钢铁归档项目，BS-S11), Source: Visualisingchina.net
3. Hoardings are not always detrimental to a residential district
  1. They may sometimes improve the vicinity: beauty allows for exemption
  2. Oriental Advertising Agency. Yates & Weihaiwei Roads. 1922
    1. Although the Yates and Weihaiwei Roads lead and pass through a residential district, the hoarding in the position proposed will not be in sight of any foreign occupied house, and as the applicants for the permit are prepared to construct a hoarding of superior design, I do not consider that it will be detrimental to the locality. The site of the proposed hoarding is shown on the plan which accompanied my report of the 22nd ultimo on this subject. (U1-14-3258 (2460)
4. Maintaining/beautifying the surroundings
  1. Planting grass and flowers
  2. Carl Crow, Inc. (1922)
    1. U1-14-3253 (1430)
  3. Oriental Advertising Agency (1923)
    1. U1-14-3258 (2415)
5. Enlightening urban spaces Making Shanghai a "magic" city
Spaces endangered by advertising (To be preserved)
1. Residential Districts
  1. Prohibitive Taxation in the International Settlement
    1. Cadastre publicitaire dans la Concession Internationale
  2. Restricted Zone in the French Concession
    1. Zones publicitaires/interdites dans la Concession Française
2. Recreational Spaces
  1. Public Parks/Recreation Grounds
    1. Public Recreation Ground
    2. Jessfield Park
    3. Kukaza Park
    4. Advertising kiosks would be unsightly in Public gardens/parks. Report from Commissioner of Public Works. Source: SMA (SMC), U1-14-3387
    5. Mapping the Public Parks
  2. Rural Areas
    1. Automobile Club of China vs. Carl Crow Inc. (Blydenburg's Turn, 1924)
      1. Extract from the North China Daily News
      2. Extract from the North China Daily News
      3. Mapping the spaces "spoiled" by advertising
      4. Extract from Shanghai Sunday Times dated July 13, 1924 - "Rural Beauties Marred by Ugly Hoardings - Auto Club's Protest - Should the Council Prohibit Erection Boards Around Rubicon?". Source: SMA (SMC), U1-14-5775 (1671)
      5. Pictures of St Georges' vicinity before/after the erection of Carl Crow's hoardings
      6. Extract from the Shanghai Times
      7. Letter to the Council from the Automobile Club of China
3. "Sacred" Spaces
  1. Historical/Memorial
    1. Cemeteries
      1. Shantung Road Cemetery vs. Shanghai Advertising & Billposting 1906. Source: SMA (SMC), U1-14-3256 (2016)
      2. British Soldiers' Cemetery (boundary wall) (1926-1938)
      3. 1926 : Oriental Advertising Agency.
      4. I beg to respectfully report that the Oriental Advertising Agency, Avenue Edward VII, erected two advertising boards, 20' x 10' approximately, yesterday afternoon in front of the Soldier's Cemestery on either side of entrace, and I am informed they are erecting eight more which will entirely obliterate the frontage leaving only then entrance free. Apart from the ugliness, and also disrespect to the dead this will prove detrimental to the boundary wall as the stanchions are touching the top part of the wall.Report by the Superintendent Municipal Cemeteries (May 27, 1926). Source: SMA, U14-3251 (1243-1244)
      5. 1938 - A sign of the general state of neglect/abandon before moving to Hungjiao.
      6. Where British Taiping Heroes Were Buried. These advertising hoardings obscure the British military cemetery in Nantao where men killed in the Taiping rebellion of 1862-1865 were buried. (...) For many years the cemetery at 831 Mingkok Road, Nantao, which was originally backed by a piece of the old city wall, has been almost forgotten, a historical relic difficult to find behind the advertising hoardings built around it. Extract from the North China Daily News dated December 14, 1938. Source: U1-4-716 (1944-1946).
      7. Jewish Cemetery 1941
  2. Religious places
    1. Temple of Heaven 1935
      1. U1-14-3255 (1867-1868)
    2. The Cathedral facing the Municipal Buildings Kiangse & Foochow Road, 1914.
      1. Source: SMA (SMC), U1-14-3251 (1120, 1121, 1127)
  3. Advertising agents are not vandals
    1. Their agents (Carl Crow, Inc) were prohibited from erected hoardings or sticking posters on city walls, temples or any place of historical or picturesque importance. A food advertising agent was not a vandal, he said. Carl Crow vs. Automobile Club of China - Extract from the Shanghai Times. 1924. Source: SMA (SMC), U1-14-5775 (1671)
  4. The emergence of a patrimonial/heritage consciousness?