Shanghai Club Building

Why go

This building shows a different side of the waterfront from its banks and customs offices: the private social world of the former international settlement. Its broad classical frontage survives as part of Waldorf Astoria Shanghai on the Bund. The documented Long Bar interior gives the club’s history a tangible scale.

What to look for

• The neoclassical frontage of the former Shanghai Club
• The 1911 heritage building at No. 2 the Bund
• A restored Long Bar with a 34-meter mahogany counter

The full story

The Shanghai Club began in the nineteenth century as a British men’s club, serving a social role within the international settlement. Its later building made that exclusivity visible through expensive materials and large rooms. The entrance staircase used imported Sicilian marble, while the dining room had a black-and-white marble floor. The Long Bar became one of the club’s best-known features, with its enormous mahogany counter turning a room into a statement of status. The building’s later uses followed changes in Shanghai itself: it became a hotel and also housed a fast-food restaurant before its restoration for Waldorf Astoria. Archival photographs and historical records guided that work. These changes give the facade more than decorative interest. It has housed several very different ideas of hospitality, from restricted membership to an international hotel.

Useful to know

• Find No. 2; No. 12 is the former HSBC building.
• Include the facade in a walk along the southern Bund.
• Contact the hotel directly before planning a Long Bar or other interior visit.

Your next visit

Estimated · Declared scenario and planning estimates; no live opening, weather, queue or booking service.