Buildings defining architectural evolutions brought about by social change are becoming more difficult to find, except in older, multicultural cities where there has been great political disruption. This story is not about new architecture, it is about the changing function of older architecture; those buildings that have been renovated and renovated again, to infuse new […]The post Inside Waldorf Astoria Shanghai on the Bund appeared first on Pursuitist.

Buildings defining architectural evolutions brought about by social change are becoming more difficult to find, except in older, multicultural cities where there has been great political disruption. This story is not about new architecture, it is about the changing function of older architecture; those buildings that have been renovated and renovated again, to infuse new meanings into old spaces. The Waldorf Astoria Shanghai is one of those masterworks: redolent with a complex social history. Its architectural antecedent was the famous Shanghai Club, and now, through the distillation of time, the old luxury abides with the new. The Shanghai Club, the principal Gentlemen?s Club for British residents of Shanghai, was founded in 1861. During the era of British rule in the 19th and early 20th centuries, Gentlemen?s Clubs were regarded as a central part of elite men?s lives.  In 1864, a three-story red-brick building was erected, then torn down and replaced in 1909 with a new, six story building in a Baroque Revival d...