Visit Peace Hotel Museum

Duration: 1 day. Time: April. Per capita cost: 30 yuan. With whom: Spouse. Play style: Cultural, independent travel. The author visited these places: Shanghai Bund, Sassoon House, Chen Yi Square, Fairmont Peace Hotel, Shikumen. Posted on April 18, 2021, 22:22. The Peace Hotel is a landmark building in Shanghai. It is located at No. 20 East Nanjing Road, Huangpu District, Shanghai, at the junction of East Nanjing Road and Zhongshan East 1st Road on the Bund. It was built by the Jewish富商 Sir Victor Sassoon at a cost of 5 million taels of silver. After completion, the building was named after the Sassoon family. It belongs to the Chicago School Gothic architecture and is the first modernist building in the history of modern architecture in Shanghai. It has the most distinctive nine-nation-style suites and many unique restaurants, banquet halls, multi-function halls, bars, roof sightseeing gardens, etc. The two buildings at the intersection of East Nanjing Road in Shanghai are both called the Peace Hotel. The Peace Hotel was formerly known as Sassoon Building and also as Cathay Hotel. As early as 1996, it was named as a national key cultural relic protection unit by the central government for the second batch. The Shanghai Peace Museum is located in the Peace Hotel and exists as a unique part. It may also be the first museum in China that exists in the form of a hotel. Visits need to be reserved. You can make an appointment by opening the WeChat public account ‘Huangpu Zuishanghai’. You can enter 10 minutes in advance of the appointment time. There is a 20-minute explanation. The young lady is elegant and gentle with clear articulation and the quality of the explanation is very high. In addition to the small museum, the lobby, the movie corridor, and the Chaplin staircase were also shown to us. After the explanation, you can also visit on your own and take pictures, etc. It is a very good visit. There are three doors of the Peace Hotel on Nanjing Road. This is the easternmost door on Nanjing Road. Enter through the revolving hall door for the visit. The lobby floor is paved with milky white Italian marble. The ancient bronze carved chandelier at the top is luxurious and elegant and has the reputation of ‘the first building in the Far East’. In the past, it was a place for entertaining and leisure of the famous and noble. Now ordinary people can also come in and experience it. The octagonal colored glass ceiling in the hotel lobby of the Peace Hotel allows natural skylight to spread grandly and is one of the impressive places in the hotel. The translucent glass at the top has a history of a hundred years. The octagonal dome of the hall is still the same as when it was completed in 29. All rely on the tall dome for natural lighting. This is the light at noon on a sunny day. It is quite bright. The octagonal hall has four passages in the east, south, west, and north. On the wall below the octagonal pavilion, there are four huge silver reliefs. The whole is made of anhydrite and the outside is silver silk.
They describe the life atmosphere and urban environment of the Bund in old Shanghai at that time. On the Huangpu River, merchant ships are busy transporting goods. On the street, the bells of rickshaws and trolley cars are ringing. Although that era is long gone, it still makes me seem to travel back to that period of time. In the center of the hall is a handicraft of a peace dove. It was created and donated by glass artist Shi Senbin to celebrate the 90th anniversary. Relying on traditional colored glaze craftsmanship to shape the body, it tells the graceful posture of the peace dove spreading its wings in a deconstructive modern art language. Made of 1580 pieces of glass and weighing 1 ton, the peace dove’s posture is vivid, stable and romantic. It matches the meaning of the Peace Hotel. In many decorations and seemingly inconspicuous places of the Peace Hotel, the pattern of two greyhounds can often be seen. This is the beloved dog of the hotel’s founder, Sassoon. It is said that Sassoon is fond of horse racing and dog racing. The bronze carved pendant lamp is luxurious and elegant. On the right side of this door is the Jasmine Lounge, and on the left is the location of the famous Jazz Bar. The Jasmine Lounge is located on the first floor of the Peace Hotel. It contains the unique charm of old Shanghai. Elegant and pleasant slow songs are played in the restaurant. The smiles on the faces of the service staff give me the deepest memory. Enjoying a warm afternoon tea here is a very pleasant and comfortable time. When night comes, get up and walk to another place in the restaurant, because the most representative old-age jazz orchestra of the Peace Hotel has already sounded musical instruments. The old-age jazz band is composed of six musicians who have been engaged in the music industry for more than half a century. At present, their average age is eighty-two. On this screen at the door are the original six members of the jazz band. The founder and captain of the band, Zhou Wanrong, and the jazz drummer Cheng Yueqiang are members of the Jamie King Band, the first jazz band composed of Chinese people that was all the rage in Shanghai’s Paramount Ballroom in the 1940s. The band has been invited to visit the United States, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan and other places 27 times. There are countless distinguished guests received, including former US president Obama and King Harald V of Norway. The door to the corridor in the western district. I didn’t dare to walk in. The lobby of the Peace Hotel is in a shape of Chinese character ‘丰’. The vertical stroke in the middle connects the corridor leading to the gate facing the Bund. The corridor of the Peace Hotel is like a time tunnel, connecting the long hotel corridor, which is called the movie corridor. Since the 1930s, the Peace Hotel has become a beloved place for film shooting with its legendary and luxurious characteristics.

In 1937, the film ‘Street Angel’ starring Zhao Dan and Zhou Xuan was filmed on the Bund. Over the subsequent decades, more than 40 renowned domestic and international films have been shot at the Peace Hotel, including ‘City Without Night,’ ‘The Eternal Wave,’ ‘Ruan Lingyu,’ ‘Shanghai 1937,’ and ‘Small Matters of a Big City.’ The corridor leading to the east door and Chaplin’s staircase is adorned with stills from movies filmed at the Peace Hotel. The ceiling, wall lamps, and the color schemes and patterns along the way are all incredibly beautiful. As you walk through the corridor, you’ll see photographs hanging on the walls, which, according to the guide, were taken by well-known Shanghai photographers. The unique architectural style of the Peace Hotel is an important part of the ‘Shanghai International Architecture Expo.’ Its south building is modeled after the balanced apartment buildings of the Renaissance period, while the north building belongs to the Gothic architecture of the Chicago School. The room once occupied by Sir Sassoon is now the picture of the Sassoon Presidential Suite, and the ‘Nine National Style Special Suites’ of the Peace Hotel, featuring nine exotic style suites from China, England, America, France, Germany, India, Japan, Italy, and Spain, are also a highlight of the hotel. Walking through this door is like stepping into the 1930s Peace Hotel, as it retains its original appearance; an old retro staircase is a famous check-in spot, and this staircase was also the filming location for ‘Tiny Times 3.’ Even the famous comedy master Chaplin once stayed here. Named Chaplin’s Staircase, it is the most distinctive and beautiful part of the Peace Hotel. That photo doesn’t reveal the location at all. This sculpture is unknown by name; it was placed in the lobby before the 90th anniversary celebration. The photo below is from the internet. This east door, like the other doors of the Peace Hotel, is a brass revolving door with a high dome. The door is not very wide, but it is ample for one person to enter. The door near the Bund Zhongshan East First Road is basically closed all year round, as a feng shui master said: ‘The door faces the stairs inside, and the Huangpu River outside. Once the door is opened, the bank’s money will flow into the Huangpu River.’ The Peace Hotel Museum is located inside the Peace Hotel. It is free to visit. There is a small staircase to the right as soon as you enter. After climbing a narrow staircase, you reach the mezzanine of the Peace Hotel. It exists as a unique part. The museum displays a batch of ‘antique-level’ items such as a copper ice bucket with the inscription ‘Cathay Hotel,’ copper key cards, copper thermos bottles, copper ashtrays, silver spoons, and various vintage utensils, furniture in the style of decorative art, and related old newspapers and books, all bearing the mottled marks of history, recording the glory left by the original owner Sassoon and his star and political friends.
This is the first museum in the country established in the form of a hotel. Within the tranquil and exclusive Peace Hotel Museum, a variety of silverware, porcelain, crystal ornaments, and antiques of the Peace Hotel are displayed; various items used in the hotel, photos of celebrities and dignitaries who once stayed here, and promotional brochures from different periods of the hotel are also exhibited. Some of the museum’s collection was donated by hotel guests or employees who once worked here. It is also a small exhibition hall showcasing historical relics used in the past. You may not know the stories behind them, but you can feel the atmosphere here. Guided tours are available for visitors to learn about the historical and cultural stories of this hotel. From 1929 to 1952, various items used in the Cathay Hotel, branded with the logo – CH Hotel Museum’s antiques reveal the marks of that era. To protect the celebrities and merchants entering and leaving the hotel, special-shaped key cards were specially made. They were too sharp to be placed in a bag, and could easily injure oneself if placed in a trouser pocket. Only placing them at the hotel front desk was the safest. In the 1930s, for any birthday, wedding, anniversary, and other celebrations held in the Cathay Hotel, the hotel could make a small aluminum record for customers to commemorate. Due to limited recording equipment, a record could only record 4 minutes. It could be played on a 78-rpm manual gramophone with a bamboo needle. From 1952, the ‘Cathay Hotel’ became the ‘Peace Hotel’, and the logo of the items changed. This building was completed in 1929 at a cost of 5 million US dollars. It was then called the ‘Sassoon Building’ and was the first real building with more than ten floors in Shanghai. The founder was Victor Sassoon, who decided to create a top-end modern hotel in the Sassoon Building that could represent the top life in Shanghai. Thus, the Cathay Hotel was born. Sassoon loved Shanghai very much and took the entire 10th floor of the hotel as his private apartment. This luxurious space, which occupied a whole floor, was used by Sassoon alone. The emerald green pyramid roof, about 10 meters high, has become a significant landmark in the Bund. The interior has suites from nine countries: England, Italy, India, Germany, France, the United States, Japan, Spain, and China. The Sassoon Building (Sassoon House) was a 10-story building (partially 13-story) invested by the British-owned New Sassoon Trading Company’s Cathay Real Estate Co., Ltd., with an investment of 2.4 million yuan, built at 20 the Bund, Shanghai (Nanjing Road intersection), with a total height of 77 meters, the tallest building in the Bund, and a construction area of 36,317 square meters. In 1872, the British Jewish Elias Sassoon established the New Sassoon Trading Company in Mumbai.
Since its establishment in Shanghai in 1877, the real estate at 20 the Bund, previously owned by the American firm Keong’s Trading House (11 acres and 7 cents), was purchased. Demolition of the old building began in April 1926, and the new building was completed on September 5, 1929. The architectural style of the building is Art Deco, and its 19-meter high dark green pyramidal copper roof has become another notable landmark of the Bund over the years. The designer is the renowned firm Palmer & Turner. The ground floor West Hall and floors 4-9 housed the top luxury hotel in Shanghai at the time, the Cathay Hotel, which featured guest rooms in nine different national styles. The East Hall on the ground floor was rented to the Dutch Bank and the Belgian Bank, and the penthouse was Sassoon’s own luxurious residence. In 1929, Western countries had just begun to embrace Art Deco architecture. The Sassoon House was designed using the popular Chicago School approach in the United States at the time. From the building’s volume, composition, to decorative details, there was a significant simplification. The 19-meter dark green pyramid at the top is a historical turning point in the architecture of the Bund, marking the transition from Neoclassicism to Art Deco. The gemstone top measures 19 meters, nearly a quarter of the entire building. Opposite is now Chen Yi Square, which was originally not named after Chen Yi but after some British governor or another, destroyed during Japan’s invasion of China, and after liberation, a statue of Chen Yi was placed there. The green gemstone top has always been an eye-catching and iconic presence of the Peace Hotel, but why is it green? In fact, it was originally yellow, made of copper. Over time, exposed to wind and rain, it gradually turned into a mottled green patina. Eventually, for aesthetic reasons, it was painted entirely green. This origin is also an accidental historical moment: from 1929 to 1952, after its completion, it was the tallest building in the Far East. The facilities inside were extremely luxurious, with almost everything imported from the West, making it the most beautiful and extravagant hotel in the Far East, attracting a number of dignitaries and celebrities of the time, such as Charlie Chaplin, Marlene Dietrich, and Anna May Wong, who all stayed at this hotel. It is said that at the time, this hotel was also ranked globally, gathering items from all over Europe and America. Each room had an in-room telephone and 24-hour hot water, which was quite remarkable at the time. Additionally, Cathay is now translated as ‘Cathay’ or ‘Cathay Pacific’, but in ancient European languages, it means Khitan or China, referring to China. By 1940, the Japanese began to target the British and American concession countries, and these lands within nations also began to be occupied. The Sassoon House was not spared; after the Japanese occupied the Sassoon House, they used it as a place of soft confinement, imprisoning some big bosses from Shanghai and the coastal areas here. Although they had food and drink, and the Cathay Hotel provided quality service, they completely lost their freedom. In 1941, after the outbreak of the Pacific War, the Japanese confiscated all of Sassoon’s real estate in Shanghai as enemy property.
After the defeat of the Japanese forces, Victor Sassoon gradually reclaimed his properties, but the golden era of business had passed, prompting him to consider retirement and subsequently transfer his capital overseas. The building was later acquired by Kong Xiangxi’s Shanxi Yuhua Bank. Following the liberation of Shanghai in 1949, the Sassoon Trading Company was in financial distress. After coordination by the Shanghai municipal government, it was agreed that the Sassoon Building would be used as an asset to repay the debts owed by the company, including land taxes, management fees, utilities, and employee wages. After 1945, with the departure of the Japanese and the expiration of the 100-year lease agreement, the foreign magnates, seeing their own countries stabilized, no longer considered Shanghai a place to linger and returned to their homelands. The wealthy local merchants mostly moved to develop in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. After 1949, the government introduced policies such as real estate and property taxes, which greatly affected the Cathay Hotel. With the absence of high-end consumption, the hotel’s finances worsened, and its operations deteriorated. In 1952, due to insolvency, the entire building was transferred to the People’s Government. It then served as the location for the Shanghai municipal government, where Chen Yi and Pan Hannian among others had their offices. From 1952 to 1956, it functioned as a government office. In 1956, the Shanghai municipal government relocated its offices to the Bund, which is now the Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, and the building reverted to being a hotel. At this time, the Cathay Hotel was renamed the Peace Hotel, inspired by the International Peace Conference held in 1955. In 1965, the former Palace Hotel at Bund 19 was merged, and they were respectively named the North Building (Bund 20) and the South Building (Bund 19) of the Peace Hotel. Starting April 1, 2007, the Peace Hotel suspended room reservations to prepare for a comprehensive renovation that would begin in the first half of the year. After the renovation in 2007, the South Building was leased to the Swatch Group for 30 years. The ground floor houses four major watch brand specialty stores, while the upper floors consist of 27 rooms, which are not open to the public but are reserved for invitation-only stays by globally renowned artists, who are asked to leave their works. The renovation was completed before the 2010 World Expo. On July 28, 2010, after three years of restoration and an investment of 500 million Hong Kong dollars, the Peace Hotel, a century-old landmark of the Shanghai Bund and once known as the ‘First Building of the Far East,’ officially resumed operations. Although the Chinese name ‘Peace Hotel’ was retained after the renovation, the English name was changed to ‘Fairmont Peace Hotel’. The ‘Jinbo Feast’ and the ‘Magnolia Blooms Enamel’ series of tableware were showcased at the national banquet during the Import Expo.
The ‘Jin Bo Feast’ tableware is crafted with German-imported gold paste, combining intricate and orderly craftsmanship with embossed skills to present distinct layers of luxury. The ‘Magnolia Blooms · Enamel Color’ tableware innovatively incorporates the ‘enamel color’ technique traditionally used in clocks. The half-spherical lid of the porcelain cold dish platter is distinctive, featuring symmetrical Shanghai Shikumen patterns on the front and back, surrounded by classic architectural decorations along the banks of the Pu River and the white magnolia, the flower emblem of Shanghai, offering a simple yet elegant design that captures attention. The invitation card also takes the form of a Shikumen.

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