The hotel, which officially opened on 1 August 1929, was widely known as the luxurious “Number One mansion in the Far East “, due to its prime location along the Bund, and for its grandeur, including the distinctive copper-sheathed roof 77 metres above ground, white Italian marble floors, and priceless Lalique glass artwork. 

 

Design firm Hirsch Bedner Associates (HBA) worked closely with a team of leading designers, architects and historians to recreate the grandeur and majesty of the landmark property and embody the spirit of its glamorous art-deco heritage.

 

“The Peace Hotel has been a Shanghai landmark for more than a century. It is the most famous hotel in China, and arguably in Asia,” says Ian Carr, Principal of HBA. “It was our intention to recreate the grandeur and majesty of this major Asian landmark and restore it to its rightful place as one of the world’s finest hotels.”

 

HBA had a team of 14 designers in Shanghai and Singapore who worked on the Peace Hotel project, headed by HBA Principals Ian Carr and Connie Puar. Since its doors closed to the public in April 2007, the historic property has also undergone a detailed structural study to define the hotel’s original floor plan and design schematics. “Architecturally we tried to retain as much as we possibly could,” says Carr.

 

The newly revitalised property offers 270 deluxe guestrooms and suites with a selection of six restaurants and lounges. Included among these is the much-loved Jazz Bar, a Shanghai institution since the 1930s, Signature Chinese restaurant Dragon Phoenix and The Cathay Room, offering stunning views of the Bund from its terrace on the ninth floor.  The eighth floor will also host the famed Peace Hall, where the property’s iconic sprung-wooden dance floor still evokes memories of old Shanghai cabarets and gala parties.