One of the world’s most beautiful art deco hotels is not where you’d expect

Shanghai may be a modern metropolis, but deep in its architectural soul it will always be an art deco city. In the 1920s and ’30s, thousands of apartment buildings, offices, hotels, cinemas, clubs, department stores and civic buildings were built in what was then known as the “modern style”, part of a movement towards modernisation reflected in everything from transport to fashion, graphic design and furniture.

The Peace Hotel (with the green dome) on Shanghai’s Bund.Credit:

Despite the rapid development of the past three decades, many of them are still standing. Art deco’s distinctive ziggurats, speed lines and curves are everywhere. “You just have to look up,” says Tina Kanagaratnam, co-founder of Historic Shanghai, a group devoted to recording and celebrating Shanghai’s unique history.

One of the most famous of all these buildings is the Peace Hotel. Commissioned by British tycoon Victor Sassoon and completed in 1929, the hotel was promoted as the most luxurious hotel in the east. As well as exquisite furnishings and interior design, it also had such radical innovations as indoor plumbing, air-conditioning and a sprung floor for dancing. The hotel lived up to the hype, immediately becoming the place to stay or be seen in Shanghai. Its jazz club was said to be the social hub of the city.

Kanagaratnam takes me on an impromptu tour, pointing out some of the easily missed original stained-glass windows. In one of them you can make out the word “Cathay”, the original name of the hotel from the old European word for China.

The level of detail in this space alone is extraordinary, from the sculptures and artworks reflecting the free-flowing fashion of the day to elaborate staircases and decorative ironwork, tiles and marble. It’s also home to coffee shop Victor’s and the Jasmine Lounge, where you can book in for afternoon tea and dine on delicate cakes and sandwiches while a pianist plays on the hotel’s original Steinway. The Old Jazz Bar, behind a timber door with a grill, is an atmospheric space with a long timber bar, small stage, and clothed tables. Every night, anyone can sip a cocktail and listen to the band and guest singers.

Inside a Peace Hotel suite – an art deco masterpiece.Credit:

After our walk around the hotel and the local neighbourhood, where we spot many other deco masterpieces, Kanagaratnam leaves me to check in. I’ve been staying in the hotel equivalent of a musty cupboard for three nights and the cost of my one night in the cheapest available room at the Peace Hotel ($564) is almost double those three nights combined, so I’m determined to make the most of it.

The Peace Hotel.

Tonight, I’ll be sleeping in a building once graced by Charlie Chaplin, Noel Coward, Marlene Dietrich and, more recently, Richard Nixon, Barack Obama and Justin Trudeau. They each stayed in one of the hotel’s nine original Nation Suites, and it’s easy to imagine them at home in these elaborately decorated, glamorous spaces. My room is merely the standard level of uber luxury – in art deco style yet thoroughly modernised with an enormous bathroom, coffee station, walk-in closet and the elegance, light and high ceilings the era was famous for.

The hotel hasn’t always been in such superb condition. After two years of Japanese occupation from 1941, it spent many years as government offices and accommodation before reopening as a hotel in 1956. In 2007, it underwent a three-year restoration and renovation that added parking and a sleek spa and pool. The hotel will stay open as further improvements commence this year, and in 2027, it’s set to join the iconic Raffles brand as the Raffles Peace Hotel Shanghai.

After a swim, I head down to the hotel museum for the daily English tour (free for guests, $57 for visitors). Our guide (also Tina) points out the greyhound motif throughout the hotel – a tribute to the city and Sassoon’s love of racing. As well as the museum, which is filled with original hotel porcelain, photographs and memorabilia, we head up to the eighth floor to admire the grand ballroom (with those bouncy floors) and the Dragon Phoenix restaurant where original hand-painted ceilings almost distract from the 180-degree views of the Bund.

A guest room at the landmark Peace Hotel.Credit:

With views on my mind, the hotel’s terrace bar is the only place to be. Just under the building’s iconic green tower roof, it offers uninterrupted views of the Bund and across to futuristic Pudong. As daylight dims, the city lights up in technicolour. One century’s grand idea of modern opposite the other.

THE DETAILS

STAY
The Peace Hotel has double rooms from about $487 a night. Bookings include an (optional) free tour of the hotel and access to the swimming pool and steam room. If you can’t stay or take the tour, a coffee at Victor’s, Sunday afternoon tea at the Jasmine Room or a night at the Jazz Bar are perfect ways to lose yourself in the hotel’s art deco style for a few hours. 20 Nanjing Road East, Huangpu, Shanghai. See fairmont.com/en/hotels/shanghai/fairmont-peace-hotel

VISIT
Historic Shanghai offers regular walking tours of the city, exploring its architectural and social history through the ages. Its website is also an excellent source of information and resources about the city’s history. See historic-shanghai.com

FLY
Cathay Pacific flies direct to Hong Kong from Melbourne, Sydney, Perth and Brisbane with connections to Shanghai. See cathaypacific.com

MORE
shanghai.gov.cn

The writer travelled at her own expense.