Huizhong Hotel

Huizhong Hotel

Huizhong Hotel is a cultural relic protection unit of Tianjin.

Huizhong Hotel

Era: 1930

Address: No. 2 Huazhong Road • Intersection of Heping Road and Binjiang Avenue

Category: Important Modern Historical Site and Representative Building

Huizhong Hotel was built in 1930, situated at the bustling commercial center of Tianjin at the intersection of Heping Road and Binjiang Avenue. Huizhong Hotel, Traffic Hotel, Quanye Shopping Mall, and the former Industrial Bank were each located at one corner. The hotel’s name is derived from the idiom “xiù wài huì zhōng,” meaning “graceful outside and virtuous inside.” It was jointly established by Li Kuaiyuan, a shareholder of Tianxiang, along with Zhou Zhendong, Kang Zhenfu, and others, and opened in 1931. The hotel had over 100 guest rooms, offering both Chinese and Western dining, as well as a ballroom and open-air cinema. It features a frame structure with partial six floors. The floor plan is triangular, covering a construction area of 11,940 square meters. The main façade’s ground floor includes foundational treatments such as steps, columns, and marble-inlaid walls. Floors two to four use wall-attached stone pilasters, while floors five and above feature overhanging eaves and a dome-topped tower.

In the past, the clientele of Huizhong Hotel mainly consisted of entertainers, socialites, bureaucrats, compradors, and wealthy merchants, with relatively few regular travelers. The famous playwright Cao Yu used Huizhong Hotel as the backdrop in the 1930s to write his renowned play "Sunrise," which criticized the dark aspects of society.

Further Reading:

· Fourth Batch of Cultural Relic Protection Units in Tianjin