Compositional and stylistic features of the banking architecture of Northeast China in the first half of the 20th century.

Smolianinova Tatiana Anatolyevna ORCID: 0000-0001-9328-5524 Assistant Professor; Higher School of Architecture and Urban Planning; Pacific National University 680035, Russia, Khabarovsk Territory, Khabarovsk, st. Pacific, 136, office 506b design.total@yandex.ru Other publications by this author

Introduction. A feature of the development of Northeastern China in the first half of the 20th century, which distinguished it from the rest of the country's regions, was the explosive pace of development associated with the weak development of the territory before the construction of the CER. Thus, if in Southern, Central and partly Northern China there was a gradual development of the territory, associated with the opening of cities to international trade on the one hand and an increase in the number of concessions from China on the other, then in Manchuria these processes took place almost instantly. At the same time, the weak development of the territory and its low population density created a favorable background for the start of mass development of new settlements. The explosive pace of development and the attraction of both new residents and capital has led to massive construction and the development of new companies. In this regard, the role of financial institutions that financed both legal entities and individuals has significantly increased.

Due to the fact that the architecture of banking institutions influenced the formation of urban ensembles and the image of the city, studying its features will allow us to better understand the development of architecture in Manchuria in the first half of the XX century. The object of the study is the architecture of banking institutions, objects — their compositional and stylistic features. Thus, the main purpose of the study was to analyze the compositional and stylistic features of banking institutions in Northeastern China (Manchuria) in the first half of the 20th century. The main tasks are to identify patterns of development of compositional and stylistic features of the architecture of these institutions, as well as their systematization and identification of the genesis of the manifestation of patterns. Classical empirical research methods, such as observation and examination of architectural objects, analysis and study of literary sources, were used to obtain factual material. Theoretical methods such as comparison of selected objects, historical-biographical, comparative-historical, compositional and stylistic analysis of buildings and recurrent synthesis to study their genesis, as well as an inductive approach to identify patterns.

Literature review. To date, both Russian and foreign authors are engaged in the problem of studying the architectural heritage of the region in question. N. P. Kradin ^[1], S. S. Levoshko ^[2], T. Y. Troitskaya ^[3] made a significant contribution to the study. Descriptions of objects and urban planning solutions are presented in the books by N. E. Kozyrenko, A. P. Ivanova, H. Yan ^[4-5]. The architecture of individual objects is considered in the works of E. V. Glatolenkova ^[6], the settlement system of Y. V. Ordynskaya ^[7] and others. Identification of personalities and analysis of the creative activity of architects in this region are presented in the works of N. P. Kradin, M. E. Bazilevich ^[8-9]. Chinese authors are characterized by complex works, mainly containing descriptions of individual objects ^[10-13], while English-speaking authors focus more on analyzing any problem or process ^[14-16]. At the same time, the analysis of the architecture of the region itself is primarily devoted to the works of A. A. Kim, D. S. Tseluiko, M. E. Bazilevich ^[17-23], which consider the development of the architecture of banking institutions in the context of individual countries or companies. The study of these works shows that the analysis of the principles of spatial construction of facades of banking institutions, which give an idea of the typology of this type of objects, has not yet been carried out.

The results of the study. This study is based on the periodization and development and classification of banking institutions based on nationality, presented in the work of A. A. Kim ^[21]. In this work, the main emphasis is placed on the periodization of the development and level of influence of various national architectural schools without a detailed study of the compositional and stylistic features of the Bakovsky architecture itself. Special attention is paid to Japanese banking facilities, which is not surprising, since it is in their architecture that the most pronounced typological features have developed, which were also used in other regions of the Japanese Empire. In general, this approach is typical for the architecture of Japan of this period, which was characterized by a high level of typologization and the use of model elements in design, which, in turn, could be caused by the not yet fully formed process of Westernization of Japanese architecture. In addition, it is worth noting that the achievements of Japanese architects had a partial influence on the formation of the national architecture of China both in the late Qing period and the Republican period.

For the territory of Manchuria, where economic growth occurred in the first half of the 1920s. During the period of weakening influence of the Russian administration of the CER, this resulted in the periodic use of elements and techniques of the Japanese architectural school. Moreover, the stage of architecture development associated with the short period of Manchukuo's existence was actually a regional version of Japanese colonial architecture. At the same time, the almost complete liquidation of large private banks, with the exception of the Japanese Yokohama-rush Bank and the dominance of the established State Bank of Manchukuo in the period from 1934 predetermined the creation of a unified typology of the banking architecture of the region.

Of course, it cannot be said that all the objects of banking architecture developed within the framework of the models under consideration, but most of them were represented by unique objects that did not form either a national or corporate style. The most illustrative example is the branches of the Russian-Chinese Bank, which was actually the beneficiary of the construction of the CER, as a result of which its branches were represented in many cities of the CER. At the same time, a unique project was developed for each, with the exception of the offices in Yingkou and Qiqihara ^[19]. The only generalizing factor was the active use of rust, which was more relevant to the Russian architectural school as a whole than directly to banking facilities.

The architecture of Chinese banks, as mentioned earlier, was often based on Japanese developments and this was most strongly observed in large facilities. At the same time, small private banks, many of which had existed for several years, were mainly located in apartment buildings, as a result of which they did not influence the development of the typology of such objects ^[19].

The latter group includes banking institutions of large foreign banks, which began to actively appear in the region in the 1910s. A common characteristic of such institutions was the use of elements of classicism and Renaissance architecture, expressed in the use of order systems and arcades, which is generally characteristic of global trends in the architecture of such institutions ^[20]. First of all, such buildings were typical for multinational banking corporations (HSBC, Citibank, etc.).

The common features for all the groups considered were the prevalence of central-axial symmetry in the composition of facades and the accentuation of objects in the city development due to the increased number of storeys or the location of buildings at the intersection of streets with the location of the main entrance on the corner facade.

Returning to the established typology of objects, it is necessary to distinguish two approaches proposed by Japanese architects. The earliest type of banking structures used, which appeared in the 1900s, were buildings using an eclectic approach based on the use of Baroque forms combined with elements of horizontal rods, a forerunner of the Tatsuno style. It should be noted that it was the founder of the Tatsuno style, the Japanese architect Tatsuno Kingo, who became the founder of Japanese banking architecture in the metropolis, having designed the Bank of Japan building in 1896 ^[24].

The most iconic object of this type was the Yokohama Hurry Bank in Dalian, built in 1909 according to the project of Tsumaki Osaka and Takeshi Ota ^[25]. At the same time, E. Tsumaki, being one of the most influential Japanese architects of this period, only made a preliminary design, while O. Takeshi handled the working documentation. Its feature was the use of central-axial symmetry with a three-axis composition, in which the central axis supported the entrance portal, accentuated by a dome-shaped completion with a small spire. The entire plane of the facade was decorated with horizontal rods, metrically located on the plane, which to some extent resembled the use of plinths in Mediterranean architecture. During the development of the project, E. Tsumaki relied on the architecture of the metropolis of this period, in which elements of the Baroque and Neo-Renaissance were still read, which was reflected in the use of domed completions and complex three-dimensional composition. However, in general, this approach was not used for long in the architecture of Manchuria and applies only to a few buildings of the early XX century. This was largely due to the fact that by the time mass banking construction began in the region, this area of banking architecture in the metropolis began to gradually give way to a new approach.

At the same time, he managed to influence the image of the Bank of China, built in Dalian in 1910. It traces almost verbatim repetition of the compositional and stylistic techniques of Yokohama Hurry Bank, however, the inexperience of Chinese architects in working with European forms is visible, which was reflected by the overload of the volumes of the towers and their pressure over the main volume of the building. The central dome was also replaced by a square tower with a truncated hipped roof.

Limited techniques of this direction were used in other buildings. Thus, domed completions were characteristic of the first building of Yokohama Rush Bank in Harbin (1912), the Bank of China in Harbin (1914). The use of horizontal rods in the Tatsuno style can be traced in the Bank of Korea in Changchun (1920), the Bank of Cheonglong in Yingkou (1906), the Bank of Dalian (1912) and others .

In general, although these buildings can be conditionally combined into a single direction, however, due to the early stage of construction, characterized by weak financing and simplified use of elements of metropolitan architecture, in general, these buildings can often be combined into a single group only knowing on the basis of what motives and principles they were designed.

The second approach found much more widespread in the region and generally predetermined the image of banking architecture, which is undoubtedly due to the period of development of such buildings dating back to the 1920s and characterized by the peak of economic development of the region on the one hand and the growing influence of Japan on the other.

As in the case of the first approach, it was borrowed from the architecture of the metropolis, where it was founded by the Japanese architect Yoshitoki Nishimura ^[22], who became one of the main designers of banks in the 1920s. after the death of Tatsuno Kingo in 1919. In this case, colonnade systems were used, which supported the portico located on the entrance group and flanked by the plane of the facades.

It is noteworthy that this system was widespread in the buildings of almost all countries that built banking institutions. So only in the territory of Northeastern China it was used in the architecture of the "Bank of the Society of Russian and Chinese Landowners and Homeowners" in Harbin (1925) and the "National Banking Corporation" in Harbin (1922). It was certainly based on neoclassical motifs, which often underwent numerous changes. A distinctive feature was the colonnade flanked by the plane of the facade of the building, forming a kind of U-shaped frame of the entrance group. Such examples are found in large banks, as a rule, occupying the entire area of the facades. For small banking facilities, which were the majority, the use of three-quarter and half columns is typical. At the same time, the visual perception of the facades of buildings remained almost unchanged.

Since the 1920s, almost all Japanese banks have been built in a similar style. Examples are the branches of Yokohama Hurry Bank in Changchun (1922), Shenyang (1925), Harbin (1937), Bank of Korea in Shenyang (1920), Dalian (1920), Dandong, Oriental Development Company in Shenyang (1922), etc. It is noteworthy that the active development of this approach in Manchuria began earlier than in the metropolis, where it began in the second half of the 1920s.

At the same time, as mentioned earlier, such an architecture influenced the development of Chinese banks in the period under review. The most significant example is the Bank of Communications in Harbin, built in 1928. It is characterized by the use of an order system with a U-shaped frame with a facade plane. The signs of Chinese architecture in this building give out the proportions of grouped windows that tended to square, which is typical just for traditional Chinese proportioning. The conscious copying of the developments of Japanese architects is confirmed by the fact that this is the only building in the former satellite city of Harbin, Fujian (present-day Daowai district) with established authorship. At the same time, the author was one of the famous Japanese architects Chuang Jun (1888-1990), who could not have been unaware of the main directions of the development of architecture in the region. A similar technique can be observed in Shenyang in the Frontier Bank (1920) and the Jinzheng Bank (late 1920s), in Harbin in the Baolong Bank (second half of the 1920s), in Changchun in the Gongcheng Bank.

In general, by the end of the 1920s, such a typology became the main one for banking construction, which was fixed already in the 1930s, when, after the formation of Manchukuo, due to its financial policy, private and large foreign banks (with the exception of Japanese ones) were consistently closed in the territory of the new country. At the same time, mass construction of branches of the state Central Bank of Manchukuo began. It is worth noting that the head office was designed by the previously mentioned E. Nishimura, which could not affect the image of the future building. So during the 1930s and 1940s, buildings began to be built on the basis of a developed composition with minor changes and differences in style and decor. Some branches of the Manchukuo Industrial Bank stood out a little, where the corner facing the intersection of streets was emphasized, but this was more an isolated manifestation than a pattern.

Due to such an active spread of this typology and its existence for 20 years, it is interesting to trace the change in architectural forms that took place during its development. They mainly reflected the trends of the architecture of the region, in which different styles, in this case neoclassicism, consistently passed through Art Deco to modernism. Thus, the rather elaborate column decor, represented by full-fledged order systems of the Doric, less often Ionic and Corinthian orders with a cannulated column fust, was already replaced in the mid-1930s by a simplified elaboration of the shape and decor of the columns, which, however, still had circular outlines, although the capitals were simplified as much as possible. The decor has also undergone significant changes. If the early buildings were characterized by the use of multilevel belts, as well as various panels and niches with geometrized stucco, then in the 1930s it began to be almost completely abandoned. In rare cases, flat relief in the Art Deco style was used. Also, the frames of the window openings, as well as the complex pedimented finishes, have almost completely disappeared.

By the turn of the 1930s and 1940s, further simplification took place, which as a result led to the use of square columns in cross-section without any decoration. In fact, the order system was abandoned in favor of similar structures. For small objects, such transformations meant abandoning semi-columns and replacing them with pilasters. In general, during this period we can talk about a complete rejection of Art Deco and the transition to functionalism. However, due to the fact that branches in large cities were built in the early 1930s, most of these buildings were built in small settlements. The result of this, coupled with the small size of the buildings and weak architectural expressiveness, was that most of them have not survived to the present day.

In general, if we consider this stage of development, we can talk about the stability and continuity of such architectural forms during the transformation of the decorative and stylistic component. This is most likely due to the peculiarity of banking activity, which, on the one hand, should show stability, on the other hand, commitment to innovation. Perhaps that is why the architecture of banking facilities has received such a development.

Conclusion. Thus, a typology of architecture of banking institutions has developed on the territory of Manchuria, which over 40 years has gone the way of development from disparate architectural forms and techniques to the established image of a banking facility. At the same time, despite the initially high role of Russian architecture and the CER in the region, Japanese architecture played a major role in its formation, which was largely due to its unification and a high degree of typologization. The final formation of architectural forms took shape by the end of the 1920s and was consolidated during the Manchukuo period. The main compositional techniques were the use of colonnade elements in the form of an order system, three-quarter, semi-columns or pilasters, which supported a massive cornice and flanked by the plane of the facade, forming a kind of U-shaped frame.