原名交谊室，1929年落成。20世纪30年代，交谊室成为党总支部开展工作的根据地。1949年5月，解放军第三野战军陈毅司令员在指挥上海战役时，选择圣约翰大学交谊室作为“解放上海第一宿营地”。1952年11月15日，交谊室大交谊厅迎来了华东政法学院首届开学典礼。
交谊楼原名交谊室。1929年12月14日，该室的落成典礼与圣约翰大学建校50周年纪念会及纪念坊揭幕典礼一起举行。
The Social Building was formerly known as “the Social Hall”. On December 14, 1929, the inauguration of the hall was held in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of St. John’s University and the opening ceremony of the Memorial Archway.
交谊楼最引人瞩目的地方，在于她的色彩，红色与绿色的搭配竟能如此协调，张扬却不狂妄，呈现出一种独特的意蕴。交谊楼底层正立面为水泥墙，有三座拱门，周边白色石材上刻有对称的中式花纹，二、三层内部结构实为一层，外侧与底部拱门相对之处由四根红柱划分出三个开间，两侧则是红砖墙。绿色琉璃瓦铺设顶层，四面檐角各立有七只瑞兽，檐下有飞椽，柱顶由额枋和额垫板相连，额枋相连处饰有红绿相间的中国宫殿式建筑彩绘。
The striking aspect of the Social Building was its coloring of an amazing match of red and green, flamboyant but never presumptuous, rendering the building a unique and style. The ground floor facade of the Social Building was a concrete wall which had three arches with symmetrical Chinese patterns carved in the white stones on their edges. The internal structure of the first and second floors was actually one storey, outside of which, the space opposite the arches in the ground floor, was divided into three rooms by four red pillars, with red brick walls on both sides. Green glazed tiles were laid on the top roof, and on the four corners of the eaves were each decorated with seven small sculptures of mythical animals, with flying-rafters under the eaves; the top of the pillars were connected by the architraves and cushion boards. The connecting parts of the architraves were decorated by red alternating with green Chinese palace-style architectural paintings.
20世纪30年代，抗战爆发，沪西租界成了“孤岛”。中共地下党圣约翰总支部传播红色声音，交谊室便成为党总支部开展工作的根据地。1948年，圣约翰学生在中共地下党支部的领导下，开展了旨在“反美扶日”的学生抗议运动，并在交谊室举办了“民族展览会”，引起极大反响。1949年5月，中国人民解放军第三野战军司令员陈毅在指挥上海战役时，于26日凌晨进驻上海，其第一宿营地就是交谊室。当东方微微发白之时，陈毅从交谊室走到大草坪，与该处执勤的地下党学生交谈。当天上午陈毅一行乘车去苏州河南岸市区视察，下午，进驻瑞金二路开始接管上海工作。次日，上海解放。为纪念这处“解放上海第一宿营地”，华东政法学院于2002年5月在交谊楼南墙竖立石碑。1952年11月15日，交谊室大交谊厅迎来了华东政法学院首届开学典礼。
In the 1930s, with the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, the Western Shanghai Concession became an “isolated island”. The General Branch of the Underground Communist Party of China (at St. John’s University) made the Social Building a base to voice revolutionary messages. In 1948, under the leadership of the branch of the Underground Communist Party of China, students of St. John’s University launched a protest movement to “Oppose the USA’s Supporting Japan”, and also organised an “the Exhibition of Nationalities” in the Social Hall, both drawing a huge public response. In May, 1949, when Chen Yi, the commander of the Third Field Army of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, was in command of the Shanghai battle, chose the Social Building as his first campsite in Shanghai in the early hours of the morning of the 26th. When the dawn was breaking, Chen walked out of the Social Building to the grand lawn and chatted with student members of the Underground Communist Party who were on duty there. In the morning, Chen Yi and his entourage went by bus to the southern bank of the Suzhou River to inspect the urban area, and in the afternoon, they moved into Ruijin 2nd Road and took over the administration of Shanghai. The next day, Shanghai was liberated. To commemorate this “first camp for Shanghai’s liberation”, East China Institute of Politics and Law erected a stone tablet on the southern wall of the Social Building in May, 2002. On November 15, 1952, the bigger Social Hall of the Social Building finally welcomed the first opening ceremony of East China Institute of Politics and Law.
