Shanghai Club Building

Shanghai Club Building

The Shanghai Club Building is a protected cultural heritage site in Shanghai.

Shanghai Club Building

It is now the Waldorf Astoria on the Bund, located at No. 2 Zhongshan East First Road. The building was constructed in the third year of the Xuantong reign of the Qing Dynasty (1911), designed by the British firm Palmer & Turner and built by the Juxing Construction Company. Covering an area of 1,800 square meters, with a total floor area of 9,280 square meters and a height of 26.9 meters, it is a six-story reinforced concrete frame structure. The Club, also known as the Shanghai Club, Royal Club, or British Club, was the largest club organized by the British community in Shanghai. It was founded in the first year of the Tongzhi reign of the Qing Dynasty (1861) by British merchants including those from Jardine Matheson. Initially, it was a three-story brick-and-wood building that preserved some traditional British architectural styles, featuring veranda-style balconies on both the second and third floors, also referred to as “Indo-Saracenic” architecture. After 1905 during the Guangxu reign, the Club decided to demolish the old structure. With subsequent investments from Jardine Matheson, Brunner Mond (a British chemical company), HSBC, the Shanghai Electric Tramway Company, and A.S. Watson & Company (a soda water producer), the new building was reconstructed in the first year of the Xuantong reign and completed in the third year. Its members included foreign embassy officials, senior executives of trading companies, and a few prominent Chinese businessmen. Every year on the anniversary of the British monarch’s coronation, the British community in Shanghai held celebratory events here.

The entire building largely features an eclectic style with Baroque characteristics. While the overall composition follows classical architecture, the towers atop the northern and southern gables, along with the upper-level details and decorations, are Baroque in style. The exterior walls are mainly cement-rendered to resemble stone, except for the plinth and columns which are made of stone. The entrance is adorned with Tuscan columns, while the central five bays on the second and third floors feature two-story-high Ionic columns. Additional design elements include window lintels, raised decorative patterns on the walls, and the towers.

The Shanghai Club Building was a fairly large clubhouse. The basement housed a bowling alley, the first floor included a billiard room, reading room, and bar — which was the longest (100 feet) in the Far East at the time — the second floor had a dining hall, banquet room, and another billiard room, and the floors above contained single bedrooms without private bathrooms. The interior design fully considered British customs, such as the washrooms being several times larger than the toilets.

In 1941, during the Pacific War in the 30th year of the Republic of China, the Club was closed but reopened after the victory in the war against Japan. After the liberation of Shanghai, British residents gradually returned to their home countries, and the Club’s operations ceased. The site was later used by the East China Branch of the China National Department Store and the Seamen’s Club. The ground-floor lobby was once home to the Dongfeng Restaurant and the very first KFC franchise in Shanghai. After being vacant for over ten years, it became the Waldorf Astoria on the Bund in 2010. It was designated as a protected cultural heritage site of Shanghai in 1989.