Peace Hotel reopening in March 2010

The Peace Hotel, which has been under renovation since 2007, is on the road to being reopened in March 2010. According to Shanghai Daily, it'll be refashioned as the Fairmont Peace Hotel and will retain its original art deco style.

From our own reflections on the Peace Hotel's history when it closed two years ago:

For those who don't already know, the Peace Hotel was the property baby of British trader Victor Sassoon and opened in 1929 as the Cathay Hotel. Built in the gothic style of the Chicago school, it was later renamed the Peace Hotel. Its early guests included a significant amount of luminaries, such as Charlie Chaplin and playwright Noel Coward, the latter of which actually completed his famous work "Private Lives" while staying there.

The new hotel will have 250 rooms, six restaurants and lounges and - most interestingly - a south wing with a private hotel exclusively for artists, who are expected to live, work and exhibit their creations in the hotel.

Unfortunately for the poorer amongst us, room rates will rise to boutique hotel levels of between $300 and $400 USD per night. That would be triple to quadruple the price of a room before the Peace Hotel closed for renovations.

Photo by Xinhua