Restoration for Offices of Central China Religious Tract Society

Griffith John, the missionary from London Missionary Society, came to China in 1861, and established Bible Society in Hankou the next year. Its affiliated department The Offices of Central China Religious Tract Society was in charge of publishing and printing. The building is located at No.49 Poyang Street, Hankou, Wuhan,China. It was built in 1911 as a three-story mixed-structure house. Before 1949, it was the Offices of Central China Religious Tract Society. At that time, 70% of the Bibles in China were printed and published by the Offices. After 1949, it was used by the Wuhan National Religious Committee, and it was later rented by enterprises as office space. Offices of Central China Religious Tract Society is listed in the fourth groups of historically buildings in Wuhan. The main purpose of the restoration of the Offices of Central China Religious Tract Society is to restore its former style and taste, and to show the public the prosperity of Wuhan's classical architecture in the early 20th century. Therefore, the facade and interior space of the offices are restorated in a classic style. The three principles of "integrity, authenticity, reversibility and recognizability", which fully protected the historical original appearance of the original site of the building without changing its original state. At the beginning of project, there is only one historical street view photograph of the building. In the process of designing the restoration plan, the design drawings of the offices published in the “Annual Report of Central China Religious Tract Society 1909,Han-kow 1910”were found in the Yale University Library online, which replaced the blank of the existing historical materials of the offices. The specific restoration measures are reflected in the special process of re-hinging the seams of the red bricks, as well as the details of the preservation and restoration of the interior wooden components, the restoration of the dooryard and the flat roof. The restored building is open to the public as a history museum in Qingdao Road. The area along the Yangtze River where Qingdao Road is located brings together more than 80% of historical and cultural districts in Wuhan, more than 76% of outstanding historical miles, and more than 70% of outstanding historical buildings. It can be said that it is the core area of historical and cultural features of Wuhan.