Student Profiles/学生档案/學生檔案

After receiving his degree, Kwan held various internships at engineering firms in the US, then returned to China in 1920 to start the architectural design firm of Kwan, Chu & Yang (基泰工程司) with University of Pennsylvania architectural graduates Pin CHU (朱彬,1896-1971, who later married Kwan’s younger sister May the same year) and Ting-Pao YANG (1901-1982) in his hometown of Tientsin. He was later joined by two other partners - his fifth brother, Western Reserve graduate Sung-Kin KWAN (關頌堅, 1900-1973) and University of Michigan civil engineering graduate Qua-ling YOUNG (楊寬麟, 1891-1971, nephew of Francis Hawks Pott, the longtime president of St John’s University in Shanghai). Starting in Tientsin, the firm completed the landmark Continental Bank building and the main factory of Pacific Alkali (leading chemical firm with MIT connection) in 1921, the Chung Yuan department store building (the tallest building in Northern China before the War) in 1927, and the Nankai University Library in 1928. Kwan, Chu & Yang quickly expanded to other cities in northern China such as Peking, where they designed the Peking Union Medical College Hospital, buildings on the Tsinghua campus, and the True Light Theatre, and Shenyang, where they were responsible for the city railway station and a Northeastern University dormitory. By 1928, the firm was prosperous enough to erect its own office building in Tientsin (which still stands) and was ranked as the top Chinese-owned architectural design firm in China.  

In the late 1920s, Kwan returned to the US to promote a new scheme in the service of Architect to the Princess Der Ling, a former Court Lady under the Empress Dowager. Along with her American husband, Thaddeus C White, Der Ling proposed to build a large-scale replica of the Forbidden City in the US (preferably Los Angeles), sited on 20 acres of land and surrounded by a replica of the Great Wall. As Architect, Kwan personally supervised the construction of elaborate models and drawings of the Forbidden City and other famous examples of Chinese architecture for a touring exhibit aimed at promoting the project in the US – 13 crates in all. In this undertaking, Kwan again sought the help of Phillips Academy Headmaster Al Stearns, writing him from the Los Angeles Biltmore on December 20, 1927 to announce his arrival in the US and explain his undertaking. Kwan noted his hope that the development would also contain a theater, hotel, auditorium, restaurant, museum, and library in order to promote American understanding of Chinese culture as well as produce revenue. Inviting Stearns to view the exhibit at the Los Angeles Biltmore, Kwan further promised to visit him in Andover in January. In response, Stearns duly connected him with other Andover Old Boys around the country. The principals connected with this project were the Princess Der Ling, Thaddeus C White, SS Kwan, and Arthur J Burks. Unfortunately, the project never came to fruition.

In September 1931, the Japanese occupied Manchuria, which caused a significant drop in property development in northern China. In response, 4 of the 5 partners decided to move south, with SS Kwan and Yang heading to Nanking and Chu and Young heading to Shanghai, while Sung-Kin Kwan stayed in Tienstin. In Shanghai, business was booming in the 1930s, and the firm designed the Sun department store building, the Shanghai Commercial & Savings Bank building, and the Sun Yat-sen Hospital. In Nanking, Kwan leveraged his government connections to secure projects such as the Central Stadium (1933) and the Central Hospital (1934) and also built the library of the University of Nanking (1937). When the Japanese occupied Nanking in 1938, Kwan moved with the Nationalist regime to Chungking where he was responsible for the design of the Central Bank building (1940).   

In 1949, the partners of Kwan Chu & Yang split up, with Kwan heading to Taiwan, Chu to Hong Kong and Yang and Young staying in the mainland. In total, Kwan, Chu & Yang designed 110 structures on the mainland between 1920 and 1949, many of them still stand and are considered landmarks of the Republican era (1912-1949). In Taiwan, Kwan served as president of the Architects’ Association and was responsible for projects such as the Taipei City Stadium, the Taiwan Adventist Hospital, the Hu Shih Residence and a number of buildings at the Academia Sinica. However, it was his involvement in the athletic field during his Taiwan years which left a mark. As the founding president of the Republic of China Track and Field Association (now Chinese Taipei Athletics Association) in Taiwan, Kwan personally nurtured and financed many track athletes, including the decathlete Chuan-Kwang YANG (楊傳廣,1933-2007) whom he encouraged and financed to enroll at UCLA to train under the renowned coach, Ducky Drake, and ultimately won the silver medal at the Rome Olympics in 1960 – the first Olympic medal won by a Chinese athlete. He also helped to launch the career of track star Cheng CHI (紀政) in 1958, who went on to win a bronze medal at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. Sadly, not long after the good news of his protégé Yang winning the Olympic medal, Kwan died of a stroke in Taipei on November 27, 1960. His funeral was attended by over 2000 dignitaries and he received a commendation from Chiang Kai-shek in 1961 for his contributions to architecture and athletics.  

Kwan was predeceased by his first wife Vong-ling LEE, a graduate of Mt Holyoke College, and survived by 6 children. 

Kwan's postcards to Stearns: