Renovations to JG Ballard's Amherst Ave Home.

A series of updates from Shanghai




October 27, 2009

The SH508 people have sold the house and moved to a new location around the corner. The house is currently under renovation of some kind. 

Will keep my eye on it, but, in Shanghai, despite the govenment 'protection' of old houses, everytime one of the villas changes hands there's a 50 percent chance it goes, at least in it's original form.

Also, the Longhua runway and the original guard booth we saw by the railway are both dug up and going as part of the expo site work. 

Andy Best




November 27, 2009

I just returned from a trip through China. Made it to Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. I stopped by JG Ballard's boyhood home in Shanghai. It's currently undergoing a major renovation. The construction workers were aware of the historical significance of the home. Hopefully it will be finished with respect to its origins.

Dan Butterfield
Editor, http://iphonasia.com




These photos were taken on November 17, 2009. That's Dan Butterfield.



January 17, 2010

Concerning the house, yeah, I went yesterday and it's much worse.

They ended up stripping it to the beams, it looked like a barn. Now it's re-made out of concrete. Only the old front door down the lane is untouched, but not for long. 

Andy Best


November 27, 2009

What happens with the houses is this. All the ones we saw that have the heritage signs are 'protected'. But it's not really checked in advance. There's just a rule that these houses cannot have the outside appearance altered or you get fined.

So what I've seen happen is that a house changes hands and they get someone in to renovate it. Now, this is exactly what happened to the Ballard house. They strip the house down to it's outer frame, sometimes even taking out supporting pillars. It looks like a barn that's just had the first sections raised. It is then completely built as new - except the 'frame' they leave up allows them to reproduce the basic shape of the building before. 

As far as I could see, the only remaining part of the original Ballard house was the back wall (original front door site). I'd be surprised if it was there now. I took some photos but they looked the same as Dan took for you.

The new structure is made from solid concrete walls with a fake brick look veneer of cheap tiles stuck on it.

Basically, the house is gone. 

I'll check in again soon. 

Andy Best