Tess Johnston – #1 Brickhugger of Shanghai – Memorial/Celebration of Life – Dec 9 2025, Washington DC
Posted: December 3rd, 2025 | 1 Comment »When I first met the indefatigable Tess Johnston in Shanghai it was the legendary Grape Restaurant on Xinle Lu which, at the time, was a popular eating spot for foreigners in the city. She was described to me as Shanghai’s #1 Brickhugger. Over the years we became friends, regular co-panelists and jointly mourned and tried to at least remember the ongoing destruction of the city’s heritage. She was never anything less than fascinating, a great teller of anecdotes, a repository of facts and a first stop for so many interested in Shanghai’s past. Tess died last September.
There will be a Memorial/Celebration of Life and a luncheon at Dacor Bacon House in Washington DC on Tuesday, December 9, 2025 starting at 12:00 noon. (www.dacorbacon.org). The club is composed of foreign service and foreign affairs professionals – Tess was originally with the US foreign service. She a;s has financially supported Dacor Bacon House and donated some of her antiques as well.
Anyone who would like to attend please contact Katie Baker in DC (who has done so much for Tess) on katebaker99@yahoo.com
Very sad to hear of Tess’s death. I first met Tess in Shanghai in November 2008 which was soon after I had started exploring the former treaty ports with a good friend, and we soon affectionately referred to her as ‘Auntie Tess’. In the following years I visited Shanghai often and would always call on Tess, and in 2015 she helped identify the house where my grandparents had lived prior to their return to England in August 1939. RIP Auntie Tess, Nick