Shanghai 1933 Old Millfun - Former Abattoir

Shanghai 1933 Old Millfun, is an imposing building down 10 Shajing Lu, in the historic Hongkou district. Architecturally described as art deco, perhaps for its geometric-pattern grating and period motifs on its facade, it looks more brutalist with its intimidating down-tapered columns and monolithic slabs, all left unfinished in raw concrete. There is a menacing air about its appearance, something befitting its past role as a killing machine. 


Opened for business in 1933 as the city slaughterhouse, this grand old building has shed its dark side to become the home to fashion boutiques, bridal studios, fine restaurants and creative shops. It even hosts the Ferrari Owners’ Club of China, with a F1 car on display in the adjoining souvenir shop cum cafe. 


An open-air four storey high atrium curves round the central meat-processing facility separating it from the rest of the block. Bathed in natural lighting this unique space is crisscrossed by narrow “air bridges” linking a maze of ramps and corridors that once herded cattle along to their final destination. Straight and spiral staircases, just as narrow, facilitate the movement of the two-legged, supplemented today by a modern glass elevator in the glass-roofed central core. The top level is a theatre with a vertigo-inducing glass floor that is a challenge for many to walk across.


Outside the former abattoir, across the cobbled plaza, the old workers quarters and power station have been repurposed as more shops, restaurants, design studios, art galleries and space for other creative services.


Resurrected from urban decay at a cost of over 100 million RMB, Shanghai 1933 Old Millfun looks set to becoming the centrepiece of another creative hub in this thriving metropolis.

Art deco motifs try to present a genteel front that belies the building’s past
as a slaughterhouse.

Sun-drenched atrium spanned by signature “air bridges” that carried cattle across.

 The clatter of hoofs on concrete must have echoed through this corridor
as the animals were driven up the ramp.

The prancing horse at home in former bovine territory.

That see-through ceiling is actually the glass floor of the level above,
through which the glass dome roof is visible.

Well-appointed rest rooms are a welcome relief for the maze wanderer.

Contemporary lounge seating juxtaposed with raw concrete and granite.

The old power station recharged as a creative powerhouse.

Time stands still for this old iron horse that used to pull in the cattle cars.