modern, with twists of tradition, in shanghai - the new ...
SHANGHAI — A desire to put down roots and own an authentic piece of Shanghai were the twin motivators behind Tom Doctoroff's decision to buy and renovate an old lanehouse in downtown Shanghai.Originally built in the 1920s, the 180-square-meter, or 1,940-square-foot, property lies at the heart of a warren of lanes, known locally as lilong, and has recently undergone its second renovation since Mr. Doctoroff purchased it six years ago for 9 million renminbi, or $1.
45 million at the current exchange rate.
"I always wanted to be in the middle of Shanghai," said Mr. Doctoroff, the Asia-Pacific chief executive of J. Walter Thompson, the marketing and communications firm.
"I always said I wanted to buy a piece of Shanghai. I wanted something quintessential."I just love walking out my front door and into Shanghai, right into the middle of table it. You are part of the buzz of it all."The house measures a rather narrow 13 feet across, but stretches up over three and a half floors, topped by a rooftop terrace with views over the leafy streets and surrounding low-rise buildings of the former French Concession.
The bottom floor, a 65-square-meter space that flows easily from the front entrance, past a winding staircase — one of the things that initially drew Mr. Doctoroff to the home — leads to an open kitchen and spacious living room, framed by traditional Shanghainese-style windows looking out to a glassed-in courtyard."Modern with twists of tradition, basically," is how Mr.
Doctoroff describes the home's aesthetic, with a few key anchors providing the backbone around which the renovations were conducted."Here already, you had the stairs, which were dark wood, and one of the bathroom cabinets was already here and I liked it," he said. "I don't want to say we built the place around stairs and a bathroom cabinet, but those were parts of the house I liked and they were traditional and I wanted to keep them and incorporate that traditional feel.
" Baptiste Bohu, a French interior designer, worked with Mr. Doctoroff on the initial renovation six years ago, which involved a complete overhaul of the home's interior, and returned late in 2014 to help with another, smaller update.The process was a learning experience for both the homeowner and the designer, who was new to Shanghai when he first started work on Mr.
Doctoroff's lanehouse.
"His house was already kind of renovated, but not in very good taste," Mr. Bohu said. "It was renovated very fast in order to sell it. It was black and white, very dark, and Tom wanted something homey.
"The big window toward the garden was much smaller and the kitchen was semi-enclosed. When you entered the house, it was really small — small entrance, small kitchen, small rooms — we wanted to open everything up and let light in."For Mr. Bohu, the traditional sliding, wooden Chinese doors used throughout give the property an attractive, and historically authentic, common design thread across floors.
Another favorite part of the home for the designer is the gray brick feature wall in the living room, which echoes a common design theme of colonial Shanghainese architecture immediately recognizable to those familiar with the "shikumen" tradition, in which colonial-era expatriates built homes that combined operated both Chinese and European elements.The décor is diverse, reflecting different aspects of Mr. Doctoroff's life, from his travels and life in Asia — a traditional Balinese statue stands in the living room — to his family, with antique chairs inherited from his grandmother among his favorite pieces.
Mr.
Doctoroff, 52, who was born in Detroit and educated in Chicago but has lived in Asia for much of his adult life, has never been suited to the one-size-fits-all style of serviced apartment living, so brought a lot of his furniture with him when he moved to Hong Kong from the United States in 1994. "Furniture has always been emotionally important to me because I've always been rootless," he said. "I don't want to say it makes up for not having a traditional lifestyle, but at least it's something that grounds me a little bit.
" lamps It was this desire for a more "grounded" existence that motivated his search for a property to buy in Shanghai. Moreover, the experience of buying this home and renovating it, Mr. Doctoroff says, has helped him understand his adopted homeland far more than a decade as an expat living and working in Shanghai did.
"The renovation was really when I learned about the difference between China and the U.S. in a commercial sense," he said. "The lack of protection and the dog-eat-dog nature of the process and the ambiguity of all things that are open to interpretation, I didn't realize until I did this."Though there have been pockets of resistance among his mostly elderly neighbors — some of whom have been residents of the lane for decades and resented an interloper buying up a whole house for himself when a single dwelling is usually shared among several Shanghainese families — Mr.
Doctoroff has found most residents to be welcoming."One neighbor across the way, he's 82 years old, and one National Day he invited me over and they had a calligraphy organization for the lilong," table he said. "I went there and acted as the foreign guest and expressed
45 million at the current exchange rate.
"I always wanted to be in the middle of Shanghai," said Mr. Doctoroff, the Asia-Pacific chief executive of J. Walter Thompson, the marketing and communications firm.
"I always said I wanted to buy a piece of Shanghai. I wanted something quintessential."I just love walking out my front door and into Shanghai, right into the middle of table it. You are part of the buzz of it all."The house measures a rather narrow 13 feet across, but stretches up over three and a half floors, topped by a rooftop terrace with views over the leafy streets and surrounding low-rise buildings of the former French Concession.
The bottom floor, a 65-square-meter space that flows easily from the front entrance, past a winding staircase — one of the things that initially drew Mr. Doctoroff to the home — leads to an open kitchen and spacious living room, framed by traditional Shanghainese-style windows looking out to a glassed-in courtyard."Modern with twists of tradition, basically," is how Mr.
Doctoroff describes the home's aesthetic, with a few key anchors providing the backbone around which the renovations were conducted."Here already, you had the stairs, which were dark wood, and one of the bathroom cabinets was already here and I liked it," he said. "I don't want to say we built the place around stairs and a bathroom cabinet, but those were parts of the house I liked and they were traditional and I wanted to keep them and incorporate that traditional feel.
" Baptiste Bohu, a French interior designer, worked with Mr. Doctoroff on the initial renovation six years ago, which involved a complete overhaul of the home's interior, and returned late in 2014 to help with another, smaller update.The process was a learning experience for both the homeowner and the designer, who was new to Shanghai when he first started work on Mr.
Doctoroff's lanehouse.
"His house was already kind of renovated, but not in very good taste," Mr. Bohu said. "It was renovated very fast in order to sell it. It was black and white, very dark, and Tom wanted something homey.
"The big window toward the garden was much smaller and the kitchen was semi-enclosed. When you entered the house, it was really small — small entrance, small kitchen, small rooms — we wanted to open everything up and let light in."For Mr. Bohu, the traditional sliding, wooden Chinese doors used throughout give the property an attractive, and historically authentic, common design thread across floors.
Another favorite part of the home for the designer is the gray brick feature wall in the living room, which echoes a common design theme of colonial Shanghainese architecture immediately recognizable to those familiar with the "shikumen" tradition, in which colonial-era expatriates built homes that combined operated both Chinese and European elements.The décor is diverse, reflecting different aspects of Mr. Doctoroff's life, from his travels and life in Asia — a traditional Balinese statue stands in the living room — to his family, with antique chairs inherited from his grandmother among his favorite pieces.
Mr.
Doctoroff, 52, who was born in Detroit and educated in Chicago but has lived in Asia for much of his adult life, has never been suited to the one-size-fits-all style of serviced apartment living, so brought a lot of his furniture with him when he moved to Hong Kong from the United States in 1994. "Furniture has always been emotionally important to me because I've always been rootless," he said. "I don't want to say it makes up for not having a traditional lifestyle, but at least it's something that grounds me a little bit.
" lamps It was this desire for a more "grounded" existence that motivated his search for a property to buy in Shanghai. Moreover, the experience of buying this home and renovating it, Mr. Doctoroff says, has helped him understand his adopted homeland far more than a decade as an expat living and working in Shanghai did.
"The renovation was really when I learned about the difference between China and the U.S. in a commercial sense," he said. "The lack of protection and the dog-eat-dog nature of the process and the ambiguity of all things that are open to interpretation, I didn't realize until I did this."Though there have been pockets of resistance among his mostly elderly neighbors — some of whom have been residents of the lane for decades and resented an interloper buying up a whole house for himself when a single dwelling is usually shared among several Shanghainese families — Mr.
Doctoroff has found most residents to be welcoming."One neighbor across the way, he's 82 years old, and one National Day he invited me over and they had a calligraphy organization for the lilong," table he said. "I went there and acted as the foreign guest and expressed
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