a fairy-tale hideaway
Of Shanghai's many colonial-era mansions, the Moller Villa on the northwestern edge of the French Concession stands out with its fantasy of brown-tiled Gothic and Tudor steeples, gables, and spires. It was built by a Swedish shipping magnate, Eric Moller, in 1936. In 2001, the Hengshan Group, began to renovate to the villa, preserving its original architectural style.The building now houses a hotel.
Legend has it that Jewish Eric Moller came to Shanghai in 1919 empty-handed and made his fortune here by winning large sums at the horse races, culminating in the construction of this fantasy home for his daughter. The daughter is said to have had a dream in which she saw a castle like those in the Hans Andersen fairy tales. On awakening, she drew a sketch. The father was so fond of his youngest daughter that he immediately commissioned an architect to build her dream house.
Looking at the Gothic fantasy, unique in comparison to other old buildings in the French Concession, the tale seems so convincing. But, as it turns out, it is as fantastic as the villa.
In reality the Mollers were originally Swedish with British citizenship. Eric Moller was the son of wealthy businessman Nils Moller, who had started a business in Hong Kong in the 1860s. The business grew and expanded into eight cities in China. In 1913, Eric Moller took over the family business and prospered. And in the mid-1920s, he decided to embark on the construction of a house for his big family – six children and a menagerie of dogs and cats.
