The Gascogne
This luxury apartment house, currently the home of the author, was designed by the French architectural firm Leonard, Veysseyre and Kruze and completed on Avenue Joffre in 1934. Despite over fifty years of benign neglect, the building still bears up remarkably well, attesting to the quality of the construction and materials. The plumbing, light fixtures, window and door hardware and heating systems are all the original. Still functioning also are the call bells located in each room.
The former circular driveway and fountain in the front are gone now, and the two-storey garage at the rear is being converted into a karaoke bar. The basement, however, remains just as it was in the 1930's, with its massive coal furnace - fed 24 hours a day by stokers - resembling the boiler room of an ocean liner. From the sixty-foot terrace of her penthouse, the author has a breath- taking panoramic view of a burgeoning Shanghai. As her neighbors she also has the Hanray, the Gresham, the Empire Mansions and the Savoy apartment houses - all still intact and in use.

The Gascogne was commandeered by a Japanese headquarters company during the Second World War. They occupied only the six lower floors and always behaved correctly toward the remaining tenants, consisting primarily of stateless persons or others nationals who were not interned.

The building now houses members of Shanghai's consular corps and undergoes seemingly unceasing renovations.