The Long Bar where the writer would NOT be welcome
HBA/Hirsch Bedner Associates, designers of the Fairmont Peace Hotel in Shanghai, will redesign a second landmarkproperty on the city’s Bund waterfront.
The company has been appointed by Hilton Hotels to transform the former Shanghai Club at No. 2 The Bund into the Waldorf Astoria on the Bund Shanghai. Hoorah! This is a restoration that has been desperately needed to bring the Bund back to its former glory.
Set to open in 2011 (and, by damn, the writer will be there), the Waldorf Astoria on the Bund Shanghai will be the first hotel in Asia for Hilton’s luxury brand. HBA was the obvious candidate for the high-profile project on account of its unrivalled experience in preservation and adaptation of landmark hotels around the world.
The English Renaissance style building was completed in 1910 and opened as the now-legendary Shanghai Club in January 1911. Throughout the city’s 1920s and ’30s Pearl of the Orient heyday, it was Shanghai’s most exclusive gentleman’s club, with bowling alleys, restaurants, an oyster bar, and two wine cellars. One of the highlights was its celebrated Long Bar — which at 110 feet was once the longest bar in the world.
Still one of the finest architectural gems along Shanghai’s waterfront promenade, the façade is adorned with Palladium columns, intricate gables and a pair of sculpted rooftop cupolas.
The interiors — including the original Sicilian marble columns and stained glass imported from Birmingham, England — will be painstakingly restored through extensive use of archived photographs and records.
MSNBC reports that HBA/Hirsch Bender restored the Westin Europa & Regina Venice, five historic buildings dating from the 17th to 19th centuries.