Senado Square Finds Its Siblings in Guangzhou
As we can see, the architecture style of Senado Square and the selected buildings in Guangzhou is rather similar. They could be called "siblings". How does that come into being?
To understand the question better, let's first get to know a little bit of background information.
Senado Square & The Memorial Museum Of Generalissimo Sun Yat-Sen's Mansion
Senado Square has always been the centre of Macau, as well as an important venue for gatherings and celebrations.Most of the buildings and houses around the square were constructed towards the end of the 19th century. They all have neo-classical facades, lending a certain uniformity and harmony to the square as a whole. (www.macauheritage.net) In early 1990s, the Portuguese colonial government renovated the Senado Square once more. We can infer that the tourism center roughly, if not entirely, follows the architecture manner of that time period. Therefore, the tourism center and Senado Square as a whole arguably represent Portuguese city architecture style.
The Memorial Museum Of Generalissimo Sun Yat-Sen's Mansion
The Memorial Museum is basically constructed from the former site of Generalissimo's Mansion. It was originally the Guangzhou Cement Factory that was set up in the Qing Dynasty in 1907 and was named the Generalissimo's Mansion because Dr. Sun Yat-sen established democratic revolutionary government twice in 1917 and 1923 respectively. (www.dyshf.com)
It is noteworthy that Guangzhou Cement Factory was built in a historical background (early 1900s) when the imperial Qing government tried to implement "New Policy" (新政）and carry out the modernization of national enterprise, which was heavily influenced by the western ideal and technology. Along with that, the western architecture became officially accepted and that also led to the modernization of the Lingnan Architecture.
Guangzhou Cement Factory was, in fact, built by Purnell & Paget (治平洋行）directed by Australian building designer Authur William Purnell.
Therefore, even though Guangzhou was not a colony of any western country at that time, the social construction were influenced by the western aesthetics. No wonder the supposedly "native Cantonese" mansion in Guangzhou will resemble the exotic Macau architecture to some extent.
Source: Zhang, Yu. Multi-value Research of the Former Site of Generalissimo's Mansion
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