Astor House: The Japanese Years

After the British owners of the Astor House Hotel fled to Hong Kong in 1937 following major battles all across Shanghai between Japanese and Chinese troops, the hotel fell into Japanese hands as Soochow Creek became the demarcation line between the Japanese north of the river and International and Chinese forces in the south.

The Japanese YMCA managed the hotel for two years, which probably began with a brief renovation phase, as the the Astor House had suffered numerous bullet holes, aerial bombardment by both air forces and even damage from a torpedo impact into the wall along Soochow Creek in front of the hotel.

This brief hiatus was followed by a three year lease in the early 1940s between a Japanese company and the absent owners in Hong Kong. During this time the hotel operated partially as a real hotel, but it was also a hotspot of international spycraft and it was used as a deluxe prison for captured British and American persons of interest.

During research for a previous post in this series I stumbled over something that I had never seen before: A scan of a Japanese-era brochure for the Astor House, in great quality and complete. The artwork is original and creative and the photos give us a great look at some of the areas of the hotel that are rarely seen, essentially in their final form before the hotel would fall into permanent decline.

Here now full scans of the pamphlet, followed by the photos broken out for a closer look.

The folded title page is great - the colors and the design are bold and eye-catching. It is notable that there is no managing company name anywhere on the brochure. But the Japanese flag flying over the hotel makes the point.

The front page unfolded - don't worry, we'll see the upside down photos later in this post.

The inside page unfolded. There are a couple of things to note - the drawing of the hotel matches the angle of the front page, but is a completely separate drawing showing many of the architectural details of this late stage of the evolution of the building.

The room rates are given in National Chinese Yuan, which at the time was tied to the value of the US Dollar. In today's money a single room - with bath and telephone - starts at $165 and a double starts at $250.

The suites had a pretty nice big bathroom - I know this from personal experience as some of the dormitories in the early 90s had retained the original bathrooms with clawfoot tubs and colorful lead glass windows to interior light wells.

The kitchen must have lost some of the French touch in the transition, as the cuisine is now advertised as Japanese, Chineses, foreign AND sukiyaki.

Now let's look at some of the photos in detail...

Here are the center foldout photos from the title page that were upside down in the scan above. We have two scenes shot from the roof of the Astor House, one of the Garden Bridge with the guard houses for the demarcation checkpoint in its center and the British and French Concessions and the Bund in the distance.

The other photo is towards the east. The empty lot along the waterfront is where the German Consulate stood across from the German Protestant Church. The consulate was torn down in 1937. It was apparently not a victim of the ongoing war, but instead was destroyed from the inside by termites.

In the distance we see boats docked in front of the Japanese consulate and the Whangpoo river beyond.

Both these photos were taken in the depth of winter with snow on roofs and sidewalks, it's rare to see this in photos of Shanghai from that era.

The top photo shows a section of the lobby that looks remarkably similar to the same area in 1989, almost 50 years later.

The second photo shows a small dining room and the legend states "One of the small banquetting rooms" - so I guess there must have been a few of those. From the looks of the pillars these might have been on the ground floor towards the back in area with not many outside windows.

The reception looked a little different in 1940, but it seems that it was approximately in the same place in the lobby. The second photo is a little more interesting - it's a glimpse into the Peacock Hall with the bandstand in the shape of a fan of peacock feathers. This was one of the largest ballrooms of Shanghai. We'll visit this room one more time in a future post.

Now let's turn to the center photo panel on the inside of the brochure. The Ladies' Room seems to have been on the fifth floor under the roof where there are small windows with round arches in bays. A small quiet room away from the rest of hubbub of the hotel, perfect for a chat in private.

The right photo shows the drawing room of a suite and we see the french doors to the bedroom through the entrance area in the center. The windows in the foreground on the right lead to the stairwell and can be opened to allow airflow in summer. I've actually stayed in a suite like this on the fourth floor and I do remember these windows. Although at my time the suite held a dozen beds for a bunch of backpackers...

This sitting room looks a little drab with the camera flash. It feels like some of these photos were taken in a rush and with very little planning. The dining room bar is more interesting - the large dining room was upstairs and the flight of stairs we see here leads down to a corridor behind the lobby along the east side of the building. In 1989 - the first time I stayed there - the dining room was being used for guests' breakfast and I do remember walking up these stairs, but I don't remember seeing the bar.

These double bedrooms had all been converted to offices rented out to businesses by 1989. Most of them were on the third floor of the hotel - I vividly remember walking down the corridor in front of all these offices on the way to the communal showers that were a long walk from the dormitories on the 4th floor on the other side of the building.

The cocktail lounge in the bottom photo must have been on the ground floor, based on the pillars and ceiling. Maybe this is the southwest corner closest to the bridge, where before there had been a buffet and bar in the 1920s and 30s.