上海市徐汇区安福路284号
Historic Villa at 284 Anfu Road
安福路284号历史住宅
Law, diplomacy and theatre beneath red tiles
The villa, built in 1937, is associated with Wang Chonghui (1881–1958), a jurist and diplomat. He served in international justice and participated in the 1945 United Nations founding conference and Charter drafting. His career links this garden address to international law.
Explore the historical timeline
Capture date unknown
The red-roofed villa surrounded by trees and lawn, in an elevated view published in 2020; capture date unknown.
Photographer not individually credited; see source · Image source · Rights retained by original creators and source
At a glance
- Construction / use dates
- 1937
- Architect
- Not established in the reviewed sources
- Character
- English country-house style
- Original use
- Garden residence
- Use and access
- Historic villa used by the theatre institution
- Address
- 上海市徐汇区安福路284号Anfu Road
Architecture and use: sources[1]
The beginning
Why was it built here?
The villa, built in 1937, is associated with Wang Chonghui (1881–1958), a jurist and diplomat. He served in international justice and participated in the 1945 United Nations founding conference and Charter drafting. His career links this garden address to international law.[1]
Local heritage accounts also record Philippine consular and Shanghai theatre uses. These changes do not make several unrelated attractions: the same rooms supported different institutional and public functions over time.[1]
Look up, then look closer
Details worth a closer look
Read from the street
Read down from the red-tiled broken roof: dormers, grey walls and exposed timber divide the outline into layers. Timber makes a façade pattern, but appearance alone cannot establish which pieces carry loads.[1]
A closer detail
Porch, terrace and windows toward the lawn make the inside-outside boundary more than a wall. Look for shelter, pause and outlook to understand how a garden participates in domestic life.[1]
One building, changing roles
Read the building through time
Captions distinguish photographic dates from publication dates; periods without reliable images are covered in the text.
- 1937
Country-style villa completed
Its original domestic garden and later institutional use belong to different phases.[1]
- 1945
Wang participates in the UN’s founding
This is a career milestone, not a claim that the conference occurred in the house.[1]
- 2005
Listed as a Shanghai historic building
Listing recognizes architectural value; it does not itself grant public entry.[1]
Today and visiting
Discover the building from the street
Historic villa used by the theatre institution[1]
- Address
- 上海市徐汇区安福路284号
- Approach
- Entrances, events and access can change; follow current notices. Historic significance does not make residential stairs, gardens or living spaces public.
Sources checked: 2026-10-26 · Entrances, events and access can change; follow current notices. Historic significance does not make residential stairs, gardens or living spaces public.
Shanghai and the world
Place the address in the city
The jurist’s transnational career and the neighbouring theatre’s exchanges belong to different networks and eras. “English style” describes a formal reference, not the entire history of this Shanghai house.[1]
Text and image sources
This account is based on the sources below. Unverified details are identified as such. Where photographs are included, sources and licences are listed beneath each image.
- Building and local-history source ↗
Used to check dates, uses and architectural descriptions; photo dates are separately identified.
Image handling and dating
Images come from the archives or image source pages listed beneath each photograph. We resize and compress them to WebP, preserving their original proportions without colourisation or added detail. Grain, blur and scanning marks in historical photographs are retained.
Images without a documented capture date are marked undated; publication is not photography. No invented before-and-after view substitutes for a verified historic photograph.