Sassoon House

Sassoon House

Sassoon House is a protected cultural heritage site of Shanghai.

Sassoon House is now the North Building of the Peace Hotel, located at No. 20 Zhongshan East First Road. Built in the 17th year of the Republic of China (1928), it was designed by the British firm Palmer & Turner and constructed by the Shin In Kee Construction Company. Covering a land area of 4,622 square meters with a total floor space of 36,317 square meters, the building has a 13-story steel frame structure and stands 77 meters tall.

It was constructed under the supervision of Ellice Victor Sassoon, the third managing director of the new Sassoon company and a British Jewish businessman. In 1872, his father purchased about 60 acres of land on Renji Road (now Dianchi Road) for 80,000 taels of sycee and built a three-story Western-style house to serve as the new headquarters of Sassoon & Co. (currently the back entrance of the Peace Hotel). In the 9th year of the Republic of China, Victor Sassoon took over the family business. The headquarters was rebuilt in the 14th year and completed as the current building in the 17th year, named after the Sassoon family.

The building features an “A”-shaped floor plan, with its exterior clad in granite and adorned with minimal decorative lines. The mid-section and cornice are embellished with carved patterns. At the top front, there is a square pyramid-shaped roof over 10 meters high, covered in malachite-colored copper, making it the most luxurious high-rise building along the Bund at the time. Known as the “Number One Building in the Far East,” it became one of the city’s iconic landmarks. Upon completion, besides housing the Sassoon company offices, it also accommodated the Cathay Hotel. The 10th floor served as the residence of Victor Sassoon himself, while the 6th to 7th floors featured guest rooms decorated and furnished in various styles—Chinese, Indian, British, American, French, Italian, German, and Spanish. Floors 8 and 9 included a Chinese restaurant, a grand bar, and a dance hall. The ground floor had an exquisitely decorated lobby.

In 1950, the building was rented by the Shanghai Finance and Economics Committee and other organizations. In 1952, it was taken over by the municipal government. Hotel operations resumed in 1956 under the new name Peace Hotel (North Building). It was designated as a protected cultural heritage site of Shanghai in 1989.

Location

No. 20 Zhongshan East First Road, Huangpu District, Shanghai