In front of you is the Peace Hotel, the most famous hotel in Shanghai. Its green pyramid is the most recognisable silhouette on the Bund and sums up the city's golden age better than any other building.

1Sassoon's hotel

It was built for Victor Sassoon, heir to a merchant family of Baghdadi Jewish origin, between 1926 and 1929. It opened as the Cathay Hotel, on the upper floors of Sassoon House, and for a few years it was the tallest building in the city. Its art deco lounges, its band and its parties drew film stars, writers and diplomats. Noël Coward is said to have written his comedy “Private Lives” here.

Across Nanjing Road, the south wing is the former Palace Hotel, completed in 1908 and one of the first in Shanghai with lifts. Sun Yat-sen stayed there in 1911.

2Black Saturday

On 14 August 1937, in the thick of the Battle of Shanghai, Chinese planes trying to hit a Japanese warship dropped bombs on the city by mistake. Two fell on Nanjing Road, right between these two hotels, causing a terrible massacre of civilians.

At the end of 1941, Japanese troops occupied the International Settlement, and the hotel stayed under their control until 1945.

In 1956 it was renamed the Peace Hotel. Its jazz band, made up of veteran musicians, became famous around the world. After a long renovation, it reopened in 2010.

3What to look for

  • The green copper pyramid, with its red finial.
  • The art deco reliefs carved into the stone facade.
  • The south wing, older and in Renaissance style.

Documented

Sassoon House was built between 1926 and 1929 and the Palace Hotel in 1908; the bombs of 14 August 1937 fell between them, and the hotel has been called the Peace Hotel since 1956.

Oral tradition

The story that Noël Coward wrote “Private Lives” at the hotel is often repeated and is told here as an anecdote.

Sources and credits

Peter Hibbard, “The Bund Shanghai: China Faces West” (2007); Taras Grescoe, “Shanghai Grand” (2016); Fairmont Peace Hotel, hotel history.

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