Standing at 157 North Jiefang Road, the former location of Jardine, Matheson & Co Ltd is the heritage site under city protection and the special protection historic architecture in Tianjin and is now used as an office building. Headquartered in Shanghai, Jardine, Matheson & Co Ltd was the first British company which sold opium to China.
Its Tianjin branch was set up at Zizhulin Wharf in 1867. When it was first set up, the Tianjin Branch of Jardine, Matheson & Co, Ltd. was mainly a shipping agency. But in 1872, it reorganized the ships under its management and set up Huahai Shipping Company. When Jardine, Matheson Shipping Company was established in Shanghai in 1881, the shipping department in its Tianjin branch was changed into Tianjin branch of Jardine, Matheson Shipping Company accordingly.
This two-storied building was built in 1921, covering an area of 1800 square meters and having a floor area of about 2800 square meters. The whole building is in a perfect symmetry with the entrance right in the middle of the facade and a Corinthian column on each side. Plain exterior design and elaborate interior decoration label the building as a Classical building.
