Customs House, Shanghai - Layout

Layout

The present Customs House occupies an area of 5722 m², with 32680 m² of floor space. The building is in two section: the eastern section is eight storeys tall and faces the Huangpu River. It is topped by a clock tower, which is eleven storeys or 90 metres tall. The western section is five stories tall, and faces onto Sichuan Road. A reinforced concrete structure was used. The exterior follows a Greek-revival Neo-Classicist design. The eastern section is entirely surfaced in granite, as are the first two storeys of the western section, with the upper three storeys faced with brown bricks. The main entrance has four Doric columns. Eaves are founda bove the first and second storeys, with a larger one above the sixth floor. Large stone columns penetrate from the third to the sixth storey.

Inside the main entrance is the main hall. Marble columns are decorated with gold leaf. At the centre is an oxtagonal dome, with mosaics on the eight sides.

The most famous feature of the Customs House is the clock tower and clock. The clock tower offers views over the entire Bund and Shanghai city centre. It has four faces, each made up of more than 100 pieces of glass, between 0.3 and 1 metre in size. The diameter of each face is 5.3 metres, with 72 automatic lamps. The clock and bell mechanisms are built according to the design of Big Ben at the Palace of Westminster. The bells were cast by John Taylor Bellfounders and the clock mechanism was built by JB Joyce & Co in England before they were shipped to Shanghai in 1927. It remains to be the largest clock in Asia. During the Cultural Revolution, the clock music was changed to The East is Red. The traditional tune (the Westminster Quarters) was restored in the 1980s. In 2003, however, the municipal Communist Party branch ordered the music to be changed once again to The East is Red.