Designed by architects Palmer & Turner and dating back to 1935, this art deco landmark was first built for real-estate magnate Sir Victor Sassoon. Though a little rundown and rough around the edges, it's still an impressive piece of architecture. It's now home to mostly local Shanghainese, but there are a few stylish holiday apartments rented out by Chai Living Residences.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby attractions

1. Main Post Office

0.17 MILES

Overlooking Suzhou Creek, this supremely grand building dates from 1924. It's topped with a cupola and clock tower, and ornamented with bronze statues…

2. Shanghai Post Museum

0.17 MILES

This museum in the Main Post Office building explores postal history in imperial China, which dates back to the 1st millennium BC. The system used an…

3. Magda Danysz Gallery

0.2 MILES

Well worth a cultural diversion, this bold and vibrant art space for both emerging and established Chinese and international names is twinned with its…

4. Art + Shanghai

0.23 MILES

This riverside gallery shows mainly local artists and is a good place to get a feel for the contemporary Chinese art scene.

5. Levant Art

0.24 MILES

In the Rockbund district, this commercial gallery is devoted to contemporary sculpture by Chinese and overseas artists.

6. Rockbund Art Museum

0.29 MILES

Housed in the magnificent former Royal Asiatic Society building (1932) – once Shanghai's first museum – this world-class gallery behind the Bund focuses…

7. Yuanmingyuan Road

0.32 MILES

Like a smaller, more condensed version of the Bund, the pedestrianised, cobblestone Yuanmingyuan Rd is lined with a mishmash of colonial architecture…

8. Former British Consulate

0.32 MILES

The original British Consulate was one of the first foreign buildings to go up in Shanghai in 1852, though it was destroyed in a fire and replaced with…