A 2019 proposal to protect Central Street’s historic buildings singles out three residential building groups at numbers 10–36 Daan Street. The proposal identifies them as former Russian expatriate residences, built in 1917 and 1925 in brick-and-concrete construction and an eclectic style. Their address sits outside the broad commercial face of Central Street, shifting the story from shops and hotels to the houses that made the surrounding district a place to live.
From the journal
Three Russian-era residences on Daan Street
Three residential building groups on Daan Street preserve a smaller, domestic chapter of Harbin’s railway-era city.
In the same city · Harbin ↗A residential address off the main avenue
A different rhythm from Central Street
The same proposal describes buildings on Central Street and its side streets as a mix of European, Russian and Japanese architectural references. Daan Street’s three groups fit within that larger variety, but their residential purpose gives them a different scale. A shopfront presents itself to a stream of passersby; a home’s entrance belongs to a more private daily route. Looking at the street from this side lets visitors see the city as a neighborhood, not only a showcase.
The details a building keeps
The 2019 proposal records concern that some structures had cracked and deteriorated, and calls for repair. Its account captures a moment in the preservation debate, while a 2024 city survey later included Central Street among the districts visited for heritage protection and reuse. Together, these records turn Daan Street into a focused question about material care: how to keep a residential building’s brickwork, roofline and street relationship legible as the city around it changes.