SHANGHAI, Aug. 20 -- Shanghai plans to conserve a batch of 70-year-old buildings in Yangpu District and may restore some of their previous functions according to a plan drawn up in 1929.

The buildings - including the former City Hall, Shanghai Stadium, Shanghai Library, and Shanghai Museum - are in the Wujiaochang area, where the Kuomintang government planned to build its main administrative zone in the 1920s.

The plan was only half-fulfilled because of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1937-1945). However, the outline of that plan can still be found in the buildings that survive.

"We will keep those buildings as the city's heritage houses, and some of their functions could be restored," Wang Anshi, an official of the Shanghai Housing and Land Administrative Bureau, said yesterday.

He said the city government will use funds set aside for heritage houses to maintain them.

The former City Hall, a four-story building with green tiles, is used by the Shanghai Sport College; the former Shanghai Museum is used by the Changhai Hospital and the former Shanghai Library is used by Tongji Middle School.

The city's overall plan to restore the buildings has not been issued in detail.

Qian Zonghao, an expert in old houses at Shanghai History Museum, said: "The old houses in Wujiaochang represent a typical combination of the West and East, the old and new."

He said most were built during late 1920s and early 1930s, designed by Chinese architects returning from the United States.

Their designs led to a unique style called Chinese Renaissance. While the fabric was made of reinforced concrete, their facades symbolized traditional Chinese palaces, such as the Palace Museum in Beijing.

He said reinforced concrete was often used by Western countries during that period, while most Chinese buildings, such as shikumen alleys, were made of wood and bricks.

Additionally, the patterns of carvings on their window frames and pillars also represent traditional Chinese culture.

Qian said the radiant form of the roads in Wujiaochang is also of great historic value as it follows the old Baroque style.

He also highlighted an airplane-shaped building, now part of Changhai Hospital, which was originally the headquarters of the Chinese Aviation Association.