The world premiere of a new documentary film about the life and work of Ladislav Hudec, one of Shanghai’s pre-eminent architects, is set to debut on 3 September. Using recently discovered film taken by Hudec himself, his life story is retraced through the memories of his three children, each in their 80s, as they reflect back on Shanghai’s golden age, their father's struggle for identity and his importance in the city’s development.

"Hudec is considered the father of high-rise architecture in Asia."

Ladislav Eduard Hudec was a humble man. Originally he wished to be a pastor and study ancient Christian archaeology, however at his father’s insistence he became an architect instead. Through a series of chance events Hudec ended up in Shanghai in 1918 at the dawn of the city’s initial period of dramatic development; nearly three decades and over 60 buildings later, Hudec left an architectural legacy that still survives today. Once writing in his journal, “It doesn’t matter where I go, I will always be a stranger, a guest, who is at home everywhere he goes, but still has no fatherland”, today Hudec is claimed as a favourite son by both Hungary and Slovakia. This modest man who struggled with national identity for most of his life is, in death, glorified by two countries, as well as the city of Shanghai.

Hudec was born in 1893 in Banská Bystrica, Slovakia, which at the time was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. His father was an architect who pushed his first-born son into the profession, sending him to Budapest to obtain a degree. Hudec designed only one building outside of China, a small chapel in the village of Vyhnie. Soon after graduating the First World War broke out and he patriotically volunteered for duty. In 1916 he was captured by the Russians and sent to a prison camp in Siberia. Two years later while being transported near the Chinese border, Hudec jumped from the moving train and made his way to Harbin, and eventually on to Shanghai.

In 1918, while the Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolved and his hometown was absorbed into the newly formed Czechoslovakia, Shanghai was experiencing an economic boom and in need of skilled workers. Hudec quickly found work as a draftsman with the American architectural firm RA Curry and within five years he was chief architect. Highlights of this early part of his career include the American Club, Normandie Apartments and the Joint Savings and Loan Buildings. By 1925 Hudec had established his own practice and was quickly emerging as one of the city’s most important and influential architects. Architectural historian Anne Warr believes, “Hudec's work must have been highly regarded in Shanghai, given the prominent coverage his work always received in the local press. His Avenue Apartments (known today as Lianhua Apartments on Beijing Lu) sold out before the building was finished – based on Hudec's reputation for high quality work. In the 1930s, his work received coverage in a number of European and Japanese architectural magazines.”

His legacy from this era includes many buildings and private homes that still exist today, among them the Union Brewery, Country Hospital, Grand Theatre and Moore Memorial Church. However, Hudec’s masterpiece is the 22-storey Park Hotel, which was completed in 1934 and is still a People’s Square landmark today. “His greatest technical achievement shines through in the Park Hotel,” notes Warr. “The hotel was Shanghai's first real skyscraper and remained the tallest building in the city until the 1980s.” Hudec’s style varied greatly throughout his career, from Beaux-Arts and Skyscraper Gothic to Art Deco and Modern. His daughter Alessa Hudec remembers, “My father used to tell me that he thought the most important thing for an architect is to produce what his clients wants.”