The Peace Hotel in Shanghai is, in a sense, the history of Shanghai in the past century. It will reopen in all of its former glory with the addition of some much-need modern amenities in 2010.
There is an attempt to call it the Fairmont Peace Hotel Shanghai but this seems to be an effort doomed to fail.
The new hotel will have about 269 guestrooms and suites with a selection of eight restaurants and lounges. The suggestion is that it will include the Jazz Bar, which was, true, a Shanghai institution since the 1930s. Sadly, in its later years it was a travesty and it is to be hoped the truly woeful band is not to be reinstated.
The 9th floor will have the Peace Hall, where the property’s sprung-wooden dance floor will still evoke memories of old Shanghai cabarets and gala parties. Responsible for the renovation is Hirsch Bedner Associates and it is now in the final design stages.
A low-rise extension has been added to the rear of the hotel, housing guestrooms as well as a sky-lit swimming pool and spa. The famous Nine Nations Suites will remain a feature of the new hotel; four of these (Indian, English, Chinese and American) will be preserved from the old hotel, while the French, Italian, Spanish, Japanese and German suites will be redesigned in keeping with their original concepts.
A presidential suite will occupy the 10th floor penthouse where the hotel’s flamboyant creator, former owner, opium dealer and later Buddhist, Victor Sassoon, once lived.
4Hoteliers reports that many elements of the building, which remain true to its historical integrity will bring back its glamorous 1920s and 1930s heyday. Seriously something to look forward to.
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