Astor House, Shanghai

Astor House Hotel Pujiang Hotel (浦江饭店)
Astor House Hotel, Shanghai
General information
Location	15 Huangpu Road, Hongkou District, Shanghai
Coordinates	31°14′39″N 121°29′27″E / 31.2441°N 121.4908°E / 31.2441; 121.4908Coordinates: 31°14′39″N 121°29′27″E / 31.2441°N 121.4908°E / 31.2441; 121.4908
Opening	February 1858, Northern wing: 1903 Reopening: 16 January 1911
Owner	Shanghai Hengshan Mountain Group (上海衡山集团).
Technical details
Floor count	6
Floor area	16,563 square metres
Design and construction
Architect	Renovation: Davies & Thomas Annex: Atkinson & Dallas: Brenan Atkinson (until 1907), G.B. Atkinson (from 1907)
Other information
Number of rooms	134 rooms and suites
Website
http://www.pujianghotel.com

The Astor House Hotel (礼查饭店), known as the Pujiang Hotel (浦江饭店) in Chinese since 1959, has been described as once "one of the famous hotels of the world". Established in 1846 as Richards' Hotel and Restaurant (礼查饭店) on The Bund in Shanghai, it has been at 15 Huangpu Lu, Shanghai, near the confluence of the Huangpu River and the Suzhou Creek in the Hongkou District, near the northern end of the Waibaidu (Garden) Bridge, since 1858.

The Astor House Hotel has been on the North Bund of Shanghai, by the northern end of the Waibaidu Bridge (Chinese: 外白渡; pinyin: Wàibáidù Qiáo) (the Garden Bridge in English), since 1858. The hotel is on a 4,580 square metre site and has a total building area of 16,563 square metres with 134 rooms and suites. It was a landmark in the Hongkou District and the centre of foreign social life before the opening of the Cathay Hotel. It occupies an entire block, and is across the road from the Russian Consulate, and previously the embassies of Germany, the United States and Japan.

On 29 August 1842, the Treaty of Nanjing declared Shanghai to be one of five open treaty ports in China, the others being Canton, Amoy, Foochow, and Ningpo. On 17 November 1843, Shanghai was declared open to foreign traders, and soon after the British concession in Shanghai was established and the boundaries gradually defined. Afterward, the resident foreign population of the British concession increased: "In 1844 [at years end] it was 50, in the following year 90, and after five years it had grown to 175. In addition there was a 'floating population,' consisting of the men on shore from the ships in harbour."