The historic Peace Hotel in Shanghai is due to be re-opened this spring as the Fairmont Peace Hotel.

The legendary Shanghai “Peace Hotel”, originally named the Cathay Hotel until 1956, will be reopened this spring under the Fairmont brand as the Fairmont Peace Hotel.

Undergoing extensive renovations since its closure in 2007, the Fairmont Group have announced that the new hotel in China will have a soft opening from 28 April 2010, while it prepares the hotel for its worldwide debut later this spring.

Interior design firm Hirsch Bender Associates (HBA) was hired to oversee the renovations, and is also working on the former Shanghai Club at No. 2 The Bund, which will reopen as the Waldorf Astoria in 2011.

The construction of the Cathay Hotel began in 1926, but the five-million-dollar project was transformed when British eccentric Victor Sassoon, altered the design in 1928 to accommodate a hotel on the upper floors. It was built in the gothic style of the Chicago school and features a copper-sheathed roof which rises 77 metres above sea level.

In its 1920s and 30s heyday, the Cathay Hotel was considered the premier hotel of the Far East. Located along Shanghai’s famous riverfront promenade, the Bund, the establishment was the epitome of understated opulence and the premier place in the city to see and be seen.

Among its early guests were a large number of luminaries, including the likes of Charlie Chaplin and playwright Noel Coward who completed his famous work “Private Lives” while staying there. The hedonistic Shanghailanders, as Shanghai’s expatriates were called, also found plenty of entertainment in the hotel, and Sassoon himself took up residence in the hotel, throwing extravagant and outrageous parties.

According to HBA Principal Ian Carr, in recent years the Peace Hotel “had become a time-warped and uninspiring hotel.” Fairmont is hoping that their ambitious investment will bring back the property’s former glamour and elegance by transforming the art deco gem into a global icon of the 21st Century.

The Fairmont Peace Hotel will feature many dining and lounge concepts, including a deli café, the famous Peace Jazz Bar, sushi restaurant, wine and cigar lounge, Heritage Chinese restaurant, and the Peace Grill. A skylight Roman style pool and spa will be housed in a modern low-rise complex extension to the building and the Peace Hall, complete with original sprung timber dance floor, will be located on the eighth floor.

Canada-based Fairmont Hotels & Resorts is opening two iconic properties this year – The Peace Hotel in Shanghai and The Savoy in London – and aims to open five additional new destinations for 2010. It recently outlined its growth strategy in the Middle East and North Africa as key emerging markets for the hotel group – with the Makkah Clock Royal Tower in Saudi Arabia as a key project.