Bulgari Hotel Shanghai

The Shanghai Chamber of Commerce built its headquarters in 1916 on the north bank of the Suzhou Creek, a neoclassical hall in brick and stone where the city's merchants met through the Republican years. A century later the building had been empty for decades. Bulgari Hotel Shanghai, Shanghai, opened in June 2018 with that hall restored as its historic wing and a new tower rising behind it.

History

The developer OCT Group assembled the site on the creek, in the Hongkou district where the waterway meets the Huangpu near the Bund, and brought in Bulgari and Marriott for the hotel. The Chamber of Commerce building, a protected structure, was restored over several years with its grand hall and staircase intact, and the 48-storey tower was designed to hold the hotel on its upper floors with residences below. The hotel opened on 26 June 2018, eight months after Beijing, making it the collection's second house in China and the seventh overall. Bao Li Xuan, the Cantonese restaurant in the historic building, received a Michelin star in the Shanghai guide within its first years.

Architecture and design

Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel designed the interiors in both buildings, with the collection's black marble, oak and bronze in the tower and a lighter hand in the Chamber of Commerce, where the original ceilings, columns and timber were kept. The tower's glass facade gives the rooms views over the creek to the Bund and Pudong. The lobby is high in the tower rather than at street level, and the historic building is reached across a garden.

Rooms and suites

There are 120 rooms and suites on the tower's upper floors, with floor-to-ceiling windows, marble bathrooms and views across the river bend. The Bulgari Suite has a terrace facing Pudong. Rooms are large for Shanghai, as the collection's standard requires.

Dining

Il Ristorante Niko Romito on the 47th floor serves the chef's Italian dishes with the skyline as backdrop. The Bulgari Bar on the same level, with a terrace over the creek, is one of the city's best-placed bars for the view of the Bund and the towers of Lujiazui. Bao Li Xuan, in the Chamber of Commerce building, serves Cantonese cooking in the restored hall and private rooms and holds a Michelin star. La Terrazza, in the garden, serves lunch and drinks in good weather.

Wellness

The Bulgari Spa has an indoor pool, a vitality pool, a hammam, saunas, treatment rooms and a fitness centre on the lower hotel floors of the tower, with the collection's usual gold and green mosaic in the pool hall.

Weddings and events

The Chamber of Commerce building is the event venue: its grand hall, with original columns and a gallery, takes weddings and banquets, and its smaller rooms serve meetings and private dinners. Weddings here are among the most photographed in Shanghai because of the hall and the garden between the two buildings. The tower adds meeting rooms and the private room at Il Ristorante.

Location

The hotel stands on the north bank of the Suzhou Creek in Hongkou, about 10 minutes by car from the Bund and 15 minutes from Nanjing Road. Shanghai Railway Station is about 10 minutes away, Hongqiao airport about 40 minutes and Pudong International about an hour. As a luxury hotel in Shanghai it has the rare combination of a heritage building and a tower view, on a stretch of the creek that has been renewed since the hotel opened.