The Upper House

Swire Properties had a tower at Pacific Place in Admiralty, Hong Kong, and a young Hong Kong designer with no hotel to his name. The result, opened in October 2009, was The Upper House: 117 rooms on the upper floors of a 49-storey building, with André Fu's interiors and a brief that ruled out the ballrooms, shopping arcades and marble lobbies of the city's established grand hotels.

History

Swire Hotels was formed as the hotel arm of Swire Properties, the developer of Pacific Place, and The Upper House was its first property under the House Collective name; The Opposite House in Beijing had opened the year before and The Temple House in Chengdu and The Middle House in Shanghai followed. The Hong Kong hotel was converted from the upper floors of an existing Pacific Place tower rather than built new, which fixed its character: a tall, narrow hotel entered from street level by a dedicated lift lobby, with the public rooms at the very top.

The opening restaurant was Café Gray Deluxe under the New York chef Gray Kunz, which ran until 2020. Salisterra, by the London chef Jun Tanaka, replaced it on the 49th floor in 2021.

Architecture and design

Fu's scheme was an argument for calm. Arrival is by a long escalator through a bamboo-lined passage rather than a lobby; check-in happens in the room. The materials are pale: limed oak, limestone, bronze and linen, with a sculpture programme that includes a bronze-and-glass piece by Hirotoshi Sawada in the entrance. The Sky Lounge and Salisterra on the 49th floor look over Victoria Harbour to Kowloon, and the Lawn, an outdoor terrace on the sixth floor above Pacific Place, is the hotel's only open-air space.

Rooms and suites

The 117 rooms are large for Hong Kong: the Studio 70 is 70 square metres, the Studio 80 is 80, and the Upper Suites go further still, with the Penthouse at the top. Bathrooms occupy a third of each room, with a limestone tub by the window and a rain shower, and every room has a harbour or island view through floor-to-ceiling glass.

Dining

Salisterra on the 49th floor serves Mediterranean cooking with a menu shaped by Jun Tanaka, with the harbour as its backdrop, and the adjoining Sky Lounge is open through the day. The Continental, a brasserie at the base of the tower in Pacific Place, belongs to the same group.

Wellness

There is a gym on the upper floors but no spa and no pool; in-room treatments are offered instead. Guests use the facilities of Pacific Place and the nearby Hong Kong Park for exercise outdoors.

Weddings and events

The absence of a ballroom was a design decision. Events are small: private dining at Salisterra, drinks receptions in the Sky Lounge and gatherings on the Lawn for a few dozen guests. The hotel does not host conference programmes, and wedding parties use it for intimate celebrations or for accommodation when the ceremony is held elsewhere; the JW Marriott and Conrad in the same Pacific Place complex take the large banquets.

Location

Pacific Place sits on Queensway in Admiralty, between Central and Wan Chai, with Admiralty MTR station beneath the complex and Hong Kong Park, the former Victoria Barracks, directly behind it. The Airport Express terminus at Hong Kong station is one stop away, and Hong Kong International Airport is about 35 minutes by car. Among luxury hotels in Hong Kong it is the one most often chosen by travellers who want the view without the grand-hotel machinery.