The Waldorf Astoria Shanghai on the Bund recently opened its soaring new tower annex, much anticipated following the September 2011 launch of the connecting heritage building.

The dual elements of the luxury hotel, comprising a grand heritage building connected by a courtyard to the sparkling new tower annex, are an eloquent metaphor for the bustling metropolis of modern Shanghai as a city that embraces its rich historical heritage and culture while striding confidently into the future.

Adding to the opulence of the 20-suite Waldorf Astoria Club heritage building, the glittering new tower houses 252 rooms styled to aesthetic perfection, with almost half of these offering a completely unobstructed, panoramic view of the Shanghai skyline along the Huang Pu River. Also situated within the new tower are two dining venues set to become the city’s premier hotspots - Grand Brasserie and Peacock Alley.

There are also six comprehensively-equipped meeting rooms, a business lounge – dubbed The Library that encompasses a business centre as well as an international spa and a fitness centre.

The exterior architecture of both the Waldorf Astoria Shanghai on the Bund’s new tower and heritage building are stunning results destined to become one of the most distinctive architectural landmarks of contemporary Shanghai.

Guests stepping into the stately English Renaissance style heritage building constructed in 1911 – which went on to become the legendary, exclusive gentlemen’s club, the Shanghai Club in the 1920s and 1930s – will be enthralled by the Palladium columns, detailed gables and sculpted rooftop cupolas of this architectural masterpiece along the city’s waterfront promenade.

Besides enjoying the advantage of a Shanghai Bund location, the Waldorf Suites at the Waldorf Astoria Club heritage building are grandiose in design and decoration. White plaster walls are paired with finely articulated timber panelling. Ceilings are dramatic with deep dentil moulding and extravagant chandeliers while the period furniture is dark mahogany against a silver fabric screen.
The large bathrooms are clad in luxurious arabescato carrara marble and finished with heritage style amenities, including a claw foot tub and a marble topped, dark wood double vanity.

The new tower rooms share a common palette with the Waldorf Suites – white painted timber panelling. While HBA has created a more modern aesthetic, borne out in details such as the light fabric scheme of cool neutrals and powder blue accents and the sleeker lines of furniture, such as streamlined sleigh beds, elements of classical styling in the new tower rooms, such as the muscular ceiling mouldings and the same arabescato carrara marble in the bathrooms, nonetheless, secure the link to the hotel’s Victorian architectural pedigree.

With the opening of the new tower of the Waldorf Astoria Shanghai on the Bund, guests now have the privilege of choice to cater to their individual taste, between two spaces which are harmonious yet distinct, reverently historical yet unabashedly modern. Here, at this first Waldorf Astoria property in Asia, global travellers will converge to be feted with the elegant grace, timeless hospitality and the unsurpassed experience of luxury that is the Waldorf Astoria.

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Images by Ken Hayden, courtesy of Waldorf Astoria Shanghai on the Bund