Deep within the storerooms of No. 26 Shiwei Road, art historian Yang Renkai sifted through a mountain of discarded forgeries. His hands brushed against aged silk, pulling an authentic 800-year-old Song Dynasty masterpiece—Along the River During the Qingming Festival—from obscurity. This quiet moment of discovery happened inside a building born of wartime chaos.

Commissioned in 1930 by warlord Tang Yulin, the estate cost 50,000 silver dollars. The Zhonghua Fengji Construction Company designed a European neoclassical fortress, wrapping 69 rooms in a robust brick-and-concrete shell. Builders from the Tongyihe Company laid smooth white ceramic tiles and carved deep Ionic capitals into the facade. They raised a three-meter-high perimeter wall to shield the 19,600-square-meter grounds. The 1931 Mukden Incident halted their trowels. Work resumed later, finishing the T-shaped structure and its prominent front portico in 1934. Tang Yulin never spent a single night under the warm glow of its retro chandeliers. The empty mansion absorbed the shifting eras. By 1949, the building found its true purpose, opening as the Northeast Museum. It stood as the first museum established in New China. The former warlord’s residence transformed into a sanctuary for rescued antiquities.

Today, boston ivy clings to the exterior brickwork along Bajing Coffee Alley, softening the imposing architecture. Inside, visitors trace the exquisite wood carvings and grip the cold wrought-iron railings. The space hosts cultural exhibitions and night markets, illuminated by architectural projection mapping. The heavy doors of the gatehouse remain open. The building holds the memory of abandoned blueprints, military boots, and the delicate rustle of a rescued scroll.