"Five Avenue" is not a formal place name, but a popular name. It is located in the Heping District Gymnasium Street in the central urban area of Tianjin, with five streets named Chengdu, Chongqing, Changde, Dali, Munan and Machang in the east and west. In 2011, it was identified as the Five Avenue Historical and Cultural Block by Tianjin Municipal Planning Bureau.
The Fifth Avenue is located in the former British Concession. The most attractive thing is the European style small western-style buildings with different styles. There are more than 230 buildings with different styles in Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Spain and other countries, and more than 50 famous houses, making it a "World Architecture Expo".
These historic buildings show a variety of characteristics in architectural form, such as Renaissance style, Greek style, Gothic style, romanticism, eclecticism, and the combination of Chinese and Western styles, which constitute a solidified art.
At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, the Wudaodao area was originally a potholed pond in the south of Tianjin. On this barren land, there are some simple and shabby dwellings in the form of shacks scattered. At that time, there were such paradoxical names as "20 rooms", "60 rooms", "80 rooms" and so on, which were later classified as the British Concession.
The Fifth Avenue in Tianjin refers to a rectangular area located in the south of Chengdu Road, Heping District, Tianjin, to the north of Machang Road, to the east of Xikang Road, and to the west of the intersection of Machang Road and Nanjing Road. There are 22 roads with a total length of 17 kilometers and a total area of 1.28 square kilometers. Historically, it used to be the "promotion boundary outside the wall" of the British Concession. The low-lying terrain was filled up and architects from all over the world built houses here. Since the 1960s, Tianjin Urban Construction Department, in order to unify management, has collectively called the east-west racetrack, Munan Road, Dali Road, Chongqing Road, Chengdu Road and other roads in this area the "five roads" area. Today, "Five Avenue" has become a synonym for small western-style buildings in Tianjin. There are three characteristics of place names in the Wudaodao area: first, there are many independent houses and few alleys, while the famous buildings are all marked with door plates, not named separately, and no plaques are set. Second, the common names of streets and alleys are mainly "Li", and the name of "Hutong" has disappeared here. Third, the common names of apartment estates such as "Building", "Villa", "Village" and "Square" appeared, such as Hong Kong Building, Horse Farm Villa, Cambridge Building, Anle Village, Yuwen Square, etc.
The Machang Road is the earliest, widest and longest road built in the Five Avenue area. The small western-style building at 121 Machang Road, formerly the residence of the British overseas scholar Da Wenshi, is called "Da Wenshi Building". This typical Spanish garden villa is the earliest building on the Fifth Avenue. Also located on the racetrack are the former Beijiang Museum and the Business School. Beijiang Museum is one of the early museums in China. It was founded in 1922. The building is in the plane "I" shape, with Roman architectural style. Tianjin Institute of Technology and Business (now Tianjin Foreign Studies University) was founded in 1921. The main building has a basement on the third floor, large mushroom stone walls on the outer eaves, Mansell tile roofs, and a round bell. It is a French Romanesque architecture.
Munan Road, 2.08 km long, has 74 buildings with style and features, 22 former residences of celebrities, and 4 municipal cultural relics protection units. Small western-style buildings with different styles are shaded by green trees on both sides of the road. Walking along the road makes people feel that the space scale of roads, houses and trees is just right. 20 Munan Road is Sun Dianying's old house. Built in 1930, it is a three storey western classical residence with a basement, which is quite luxurious. No. 24 is the former residence of Yan Huiqing, a modern Chinese diplomat, whose architecture has European classical architectural style. The Italian style residence in the Roman Colonnade on No. 28 is the former residence of Li Shufu, the descendant of the eight "Li Shanren" in Tianjin. Li was once the manager of Tianjin Colonial Bank. No. 50 is the former residence of Zhang Xuemo, the second younger brother of Zhang Xueliang, with red brick walls and sloping roof tiles, which has the style of an English courtyard villa.
Former residence of Cai Chengxun at 3 and 5 Dali Road. No. 3 is the main building with French Roman appearance and Chinese wood carvings for interior decoration. No. 5 is a Chinese style courtyard temple, with floral pendant doors, door and window partitions, brick, wood and stone carvings. It is a Chinese and Western residence.
Qingwang Mansion, No. 55, Chongqing Road. It is the residence of Qing Dynasty Qing Prince Zaizhen. The main building is composed of a two-story quadrangle with western eaves, Chinese patio and decoration. The top floor is the Ancestor Hall. The eastern part of the courtyard is a Chinese garden with rockeries, stone caves and hexagonal pavilions. It is also a Chinese and Western residence.
