Victor Sassoon: Lebanese Legend of Shanghai
July 31st, 2008 at 10:57 am
Sir (Ellice) Victor Sassoon, 3rd Baronet GBE (20 December 1881 - 13 August 1961) was a businessman and hotelier from the Lebanese Sassoon Jewish banking family. Interestingly, the Magen Avraham Synagogue awaiting renovation in Beirut today is said to have been financed by a wealthy “Sassoon family from the East” though typically attributed to India, it’s possibly more accurate to assume it was none other than the family from Sassoon Shanghai.
Sir Victor Sassoon walked with the aid of two sticks as the result of injuries in World War I in which he served in the Royal Flying Corps.
He succeeded to the Baronetcy on the death of his father Edward Elias Sassoon in 1924. He had no issue, and the Baronetcy became extinct on his death.
He lived in Shanghai up until the Japanese occupation. The Cathay Hotel, now the Peace Hotel, was confiscated by the PRC after 1949. He was also an avid photographer and held extravagant parties at his hotel. Late in his life, Sassoon converted to Buddhism. Sassoon was related by marriage to the Mocatta family, very prominent Jewish family in England with Arab roots, and he himself was a Sephardic Jew. One of his former employees, Lord Kadoorie (Khadoori), later founded the Hong Kong based utility company China Light and Power. One of his right hand men in Shanghai was Gordon Currie who was put into a concentration camp by the Japanese and remained there for several years.
The Sassoon Road in Hong Kong is named in his honour.
Shanghai Landmark: The Peace Hotel
The Peace Hotel is a colossal art-deco style building, a world-famous architectural landmark an one of Shanghai’s main attractions in Shanghai.
The hotel was originally the pearl in the real estate empire of the Sassoon family and the private mansion of the family heir, Elice Victor Sassoon, who made his fortune from weapons and the opium trade.
In 1929 it was re-opened as The Cathay Hotel and during its 1930s heyday it was one of the most famous establishments in the world, housing innumerable celebrities, politicians and business tycoons, as well as artists such as Charlie Chaplin, George Bernard Shaw and Noel Coward, under its characteristic pyramid-shaped roof.
The romantic period lasted until the Second World War put an end to Shanghai’s days as the “Paris of the East”. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the hotel reopened as the Peace Hotel in 1956.
Recently refurbished, the hotel now fully reflects its original splendour. Particularly worth visiting are the Nine Nations Suite and the magnificent roof-top terrace, from which you have a view of the Bund and the Pudong District.
Andrea Said,
July 31, 2008 @ 3:09 pm
I knew and know that today this big hotel (good name) has 2 buildings, “The North Building” (Sassoon House) and “The South Building” (Palace Hotel).
Andrea Said,
July 31, 2008 @ 3:31 pm
…….ah, and I knew that Sassoon Road is well recognized for the great sunset view.
“….. it was one of the most famous establishments in the world, housing innumerable celebrities, politicians and business tycoons, as well as artists such as Charlie Chaplin etc.”. Yes, Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin, the great Charlie Chaplin (”not jew who said to be jew”) with his wife stayed in room 51 (now is room number 568). This in march 1936.
Bye, Andrea.
House_Muziq Said,
September 10, 2008 @ 4:02 am
umm, im sorry but victor sassoon is not Lebanese, he is part of the famous sassoon family known for being Baghdadi Jewish businessmen from Iraq.
Site Administration Said,
September 11, 2008 @ 6:46 am
Thank you for writing, relatives of Victor Sassoon who still have business interests in Shanghai stated otherwise, and they in fact initially proposed this subject.
Kindly,
Site Administration
Paul dos Remedios Said,
November 12, 2008 @ 9:15 am
I remember my father, Cecil Joseph dos Remedios, who was born Shanghai 1915 and lived there until 1 year after the Japanese occupation relating a story to me of how he assisted in getting Victor Sassoon’s art treasures out of Shanghai by PT boat. Would anybody else have further knowledge of this?