A Few Observations on the ‘Restored’ Cathay

A journalist friend reports a recent trip to have a nose around the refurbished Cathay Hotel (renamed the Peace Hotel after 1949, a name the new Fairmont Management have kept sadly). Here’s his comments on what he saw inside:

Most fittings seem to be still there as far as I can see. Think some damaged or rusted fittings may have been remade to original designs, but impossible to tell as the copy job so good. The Lalique lamps still on floor 8, the original sprung-wood ballroom floor still intact, the Chinese restaurant decorated exactly as before, just cleaned up, and a fantastic ceiling atrium (pictured below), all stained glass that had been hidden behind a false ceiling is back at the entrance. Wooden bar in Jazz Bar is now black marble, and the bar smaller than before. Guestrooms a little more contemporary in look than would have been before. The nine nation suites still not open. They have a cool little museum with all kinds of old stuff from the past on display – glasses, silverware, laundry bags…