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Lester, Johnson & Morriss

德和洋行

Shanghai architecture firm (德和洋行) of Henry Lester and Gordon Morriss; designed the North China Daily News Building at Bund 17.

Lester, Johnson & Morriss (德和洋行, Déhé Yángháng) was a Shanghai firm of architects founded by Henry Lester, who came to the city as a surveyor for the Municipal Council (sources date his arrival between about 1863 and 1867). It designed the North China Daily News Building at Bund 17. Lester also chaired the newspaper’s publishing company; the Morriss family held a large share in it.

The firm’s dates are not settled. The Concessions Gazetteer dates 德和洋行 as a property business to 1870 and describes a reorganisation with Johnson and Morriss in 1913; the architects’ dictionary and other sources give 1913 as the date of the partnership. Lester retired in 1916, and the firm kept working after his death in 1926. Its later projects include the Nissin Building, the Bank of Taiwan Building, Renji Hospital and the Henry Lester Institute of Technical Education. For his life and the trust that paid for those last two, see Henry Lester.

Connections

  • Henry Lester雷士德Founder of the property and architecture firm 德和洋行, reorganised in 1913 as Lester, Johnson & Morriss

Places

The former Bank of Taiwan building, a stone block with tall columns, on the corner of the Bund.
Photo: Livelikerw · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Cropped to fit

Building· c. 1924

Bank of Taiwan Building

台湾银行大楼Táiwān Yínháng Dàlóu

Four-column bank of the 1920s at No. 16 the Bund, designed by Lester, Johnson & Morriss for the Bank of Taiwan; now a China Merchants Bank branch.

The Nissin Building, a narrow six-storey stone façade on the Bund.
Photo: Livelikerw · CC BY-SA 3.0

Building· c. 1921–1925

Nissin Building

日清大楼Rìqīng Dàlóu

Six-storey granite office of the Japanese shipping line Nisshin Kisen Kaisha, built 1921–1925 by Lester, Johnson & Morriss at No. 5 the Bund.

Stories

Sources

  1. 1.Shanghai Famous Buildings Gazetteer: five Bund entries (nodes 108924 North China Daily News Building, 108925 Chartered Bank, 108926 Palace Hotel, 108927 Sassoon House, 108928 Bank of China) (上海名建筑志 · 欧美风情的沪滨广厦（字林大楼、麦加利银行大楼、汇中饭店、华懋饭店大楼、中国银行大楼各篇）), 上海市地方志办公室, 2009 — https://szfz.shtong.gov.cn/difangzhi-front/book/detailNew?oneId=1&bookId=81772&parentNodeId=81784&nodeId=108924&type=-1gazetteer
  2. 2.English Wikipedia (article given in each fact's locator) (English Wikipedia), Wikimedia Foundation — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_China_Daily_News_Buildingwikipedia
  3. 3.Shanghai Concessions Gazetteer, part 6 People, ch. 1 Biographies: Henry Lester (1840–1926) (上海租界志·第六篇 人物·第一章 人物传略·雷士德（Henry Lester　1840～1926年）), 上海市档案馆（编）, 上海社会科学院出版社；上海市地方志办公室数字方志（在线）, 2001 — 上海租界志·人物传略·雷士德gazetteer
  4. 4.Shanghai Concessions Gazetteer, Part 5 ch. 4 §2: Housing (stock, valuation, letting) (上海租界志·第五篇 管理·第四章 房地产和建筑管理·第二节 房产管理), 上海市档案馆（编）, 上海社会科学院出版社；上海市地方志办公室数字方志（在线）, 2001 — 一、房产概况gazetteer
  5. 5.Another historic building to open to the public: the Lester Institute returns next year (background on Henry Lester and his firm) (上海又添一座开放的历史建筑 雷士德医学院明年“回归”), 上海市文化和旅游局 (reprinting 上观新闻, 2023-06-16), 2023 — section on 亨利·雷士德article
  6. 6.Lester, Henry 1840 - 1926 (Lester, Henry 1840 - 1926 (Biographical Dictionary of British and Irish Architects 1800-1950)), AHRnet (Art History Research Net) — partnership and selected firm projectswebsite