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Restoration, or at least some workmen, at Plum Well Villas

Posted: April 9th, 2019 | 2 Comments »

Plum Well Villas is a charming lane that was formerly off Amherst Avenue (Xinhua Lu), External Western Roads District. I lived close by it for many years and it was always one of Western Shanghai’s sleepier lanes. This is due largely to the fact that it is a dead-end and so no use as a “rat-run” for traffic. The villas are roomy and large reflecting the fact that it was really the edge of the city in the 1930s and beyond was largely semi-rural Hungjiao (Hongqiao). Many famous Chinese scholars, and some foreigners, lived in the villas.

And it seems there is some restoration going on – though the villas were in quite good condition and had not been overly sub-divided. The lane is invariably missed by those exploring the better known Columbia Circle, back east up Xinhua Lu. To get to Plum Well Villas you have to cross Dingxi Lu heading west and it’s just to the left/south.

the entrance to Plum Well Villas from Amherst Avenue (Xinhua Lu)

One villa at the northern end of the lane that has undergone some renovation


the same villa which now appears to be being landscaped too…


2 Comments on “Restoration, or at least some workmen, at Plum Well Villas”

  1. 1 Chris said at 11:48 pm on April 10th, 2019:

    A nice looking villa! It appears to be close to where the boyhood home of J.G. Ballard (Empire Of The Sun) was located.

  2. 2 Aljurf Land Plots said at 9:30 pm on April 22nd, 2019:

    Indeed post, To get to Plum Well Villas you have to cross Dingxi Lu heading west and it’s just to the left/south.

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