On April 21st, a building at the former site of the Shanghai Murdoch Piano Factory collapsed during renovation. At the time of the incident, the building was undergoing remodeling. This piano factory has witnessed the hundred-year development history of pianos in Shanghai.
According to a report by Caixin on the 22nd, the building located at 627 Jiangpu Road, Yangpu District, Shanghai, just across a single-lane Huimin Road from the Yangpu District Government office building, was originally part of the Murdoch Piano Factory. It now serves as the “Building 1” of the “E-Park Hub” entrepreneurial park. The building was under renovation. Witnesses revealed that on the morning of the 21st, security guards and construction workers heard unusual noises, prompting everyone inside to evacuate. Around 7 AM, a loud noise was heard, and the east side of the fourth floor of the building collapsed, with debris falling onto the third floor, shattering windows on three levels. Some debris even fell onto the subway exit plaza on both sides of the ground floor and the hallway behind the building.
Residents told Shanghai TV that smoke billowed at the scene, engulfing the nearby alleys and spilling onto the streets.
Later in the evening of the 21st, the section of the road where the incident occurred was closed off. Nearby residents who gathered to watch mentioned that they did not see any injured individuals being taken out. Firefighters and park security personnel confirmed that there were no casualties.
Construction workers and security guards at the scene mentioned that the collapsed building was undergoing renovation on the third and fourth floors. A security guard revealed that the structural modifications on the fourth floor might have compromised the load-bearing structure, leading to the collapse due to excessive roof span. Another resident pointed out that in such old buildings, the floor slabs are prefabricated with hollow space in between, resulting in insufficient strength. “Moreover, it’s already been a hundred years, and it couldn’t withstand further disturbances,” they said.
The building was originally a three-story structure a century ago, with the fourth floor added in 1976. A plaque on the site, indicating it as the factory building of the former Murdoch Piano Factory, managed and used by Shanghai Piano Co., Ltd., a subsidiary.
The Murdoch Piano Company was established in Shanghai by British businessman Murdoch in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, making it the first piano firm in Shanghai and China as a whole. By the 1920s and 1930s, the Murdoch Piano Factory expanded, and Shanghai became the largest piano production base in Asia. After the war, the Murdoch Piano Factory and its staff moved to Nanjing in 1937. In the 1950s, the piano company went under a mix of private and public ownership, with 29 factories including the Murdoch Piano Factory forming the Shanghai Musical Instruments Factory, situated at the former Murdoch site.