Peace Hotel, Shanghai

The Peace Hotel goes by a few names. The Cathay Hotel and, as it is now, The Fairmont Peace Hotel and is actually made up of two buildings, the North Building and the South Building.

The South Building dates back to the mid 19th century when it was known as the Central Hotel. Early in the 20th century the hotel was restructured as the Palace Hotel. During the Second World War it was occupied by the Japanese and afterwards by the Municipal Construction Department between 1952 and 1965, then it returned to the function of a hotel as part of the Peace Hotel.

The North building, with its green pyramid shaped roof, was designed by architects Palmer & Turner and construction commenced in 1926. It was known as Sassoon House after its owner Sir Victor Sassoon with the Cathay Hotel operating out of several floors from 1929.

It became the Peace Hotel in 1956 and at the time the building was under the control of the Municipal Government.

In 2007, the hotel was closed for extensive refurbishment bringing the hotel back to its 1930s glamour.

Reference:
Fairmont Peace Hotel website

If you want to know more about the Sassoon family I recommend today's post Remarkable Sassoon family: the English branch at the ART and ARCHITECTURE, mainly blog.