Hudec's life was a mixture of glory and homesickness. In 1893, Hudec was born in a wealthy Slovak family in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and he became an architecture student under the influence of his family. His early experience was dramatic: when the First World War broke out, he was drafted into the army but was unfortunately captured by the Russian army during the war. In 1918, when he was being transferred near the Chinese border, he jumped off the train, entered China through various hardships, and finally arrived in Shanghai, where he joined the American architectural firm, Curry. Two years later, after saving enough travel expenses, he thought he could return home smoothly, but because the Austro-Hungarian Empire had disintegrated, the Hungarian town where he was born was later included in Slovakia, and Hudec became a stateless person. Desperate, he could only stay in Shanghai. In 1925, Hudec founded his own architectural firm, and since then he has shown his talents in Shanghai and has become a legendary architect that people talk about today.

Hudec was commissioned to design the China Baptist Building and the Christian Literature Building between 1930 and 1932. The China Baptist Building with strong, religious elements faces the Christian Literature Building, standing on Yuenmingyuen Rd. as if a solemn, mysterious "black forest". The red and brown are interlaced on the outer wall of the building, and the roof is decorated with light yellow pointed hooks, like a row of eagle beaks facing the vast sky.Hudec was inspired by the landmark buildings of Hannover then, and imitated the elements of Gothic pointed arches and decorative art patterns when designing the China Baptist Building. In 1931, the China Baptist Building was completed. Its name comes from the “China Baptist Publication Society”, the institution that once set its office in the building.

After Hudec moved his office to the 8th floor of the China Baptist Building in 1932, he gradually formed his own style, began to lead the new wave of modernist architecture, and designed a large number of classic buildings, including the Park Hotel and the Grand Theatre in Shanghai.

Hudec's career was booming. Although he seemed to live a smooth life, he narrated: "I am a stranger wherever I go, a passer-by in a hurry, and a wanderer in a foreign land." Hudec left China with his wife in 1947. Traveling through Europe and the United States, he still failed to reach his hometown for the rest of his life.

In 2010, ROCKBUND invited David Chipperfield Architects, a top international architectural firm, to renovate the China Baptist Building. The China Baptist Building has now be restored to its former style and stands majestically on the Yuenmingyuen Rd. Just as I.M. Pei said: Hudec’s architecture was, is, and will always be a bright spot in the urban outline of Shanghai.