The Columbia Country Club




This club, also American, was both a social and a sports club. It was at one time truly in the country, with an arcaded swimming pool, tennis courts and an indoor squash court (now a medicine bottling plant). The clubhouse was in a Moorish/Spanish Revival style, with a carriage portico in the front, pictured here, and a wide veranda in back for dancing under the stars. Located conveniently nearby was a riding school run by former White Russian cavalry officers.

Today the entire complex is used by a pharmaceutical company. We are told that the pool is still used, although when last seen it contained both fish and frogs.
Clubs were an integral part of the expatriate life. The year 1939 saw the Japanese occupying all of Shanghai save for the International Settlement and the French Concession. With a war looming in Europe, Jewish refugees were pouring into Shanghai from Germany and Austria. In the Far East the British were busily fortifying Singapore. In the clubs of Shanghai, however, it was business-and pleasure-as usual.