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No 2   THE SHANGHAI CLUB - SHANGHAI

No. 2 The Shanghai Club Building was a three-storey neo-classical building in Shanghai along The Bund. The structure is now empty. The original Shanghai Club was a three-storey red-brick building constructed the British in 1861. The club was rebuilt in 1905.

The original Club was torn down and rebuilt in 1910 with reinforced concrete in a neo-classical design. The large first floor dining room had black and white marble flooring, while the entrance staircase used imported white Sicilian marble.

The club was a British men's club and was the most exclusive club in Shanghai during the heyday of the 1920s
 and 1930s. The membership fee was $125 and monthly dues were $9.
United States President Ulysses S.
Grant
was hosted there when he visited Shanghai in 1879.

The second-floor was famous for the "Long Bar." This was an unpolished mahogany, L-shaped bar that
measured 110.7 feet by 39 feet. On one side of the bar was a smoking room and library, while on the other
side was a billiards room. It was famous for being the world's longest bar at one time There were also forty
guest rooms on the second and third floors. It later became the Dongfeng Hotel, and even suffered the
indignity of  housing a KFC restaurant from 1990 to 1996.

Text copyright Peter Hibberd 2008

 

                                                                                                  All images on this website are Copyright to © Simon Fieldhouse 2009