Moller House

LoginSave

One of Shanghai’s most whimsical buildings, the Scandinavian-influenced Gothic peaks of the Moller House could double as the Munsters’ holiday home. Swedish owner and horse-racing fan Eric Moller owned the Moller Line, a shipping firm. Previously home to the Communist Youth League, the building now houses a hotel, the Hengshan Moller Villa. No photos allowed.

Fancifully perhaps, legend attests that a fortune teller warned Moller that tragedy would befall him on the house’s completion, so the tycoon dragged out its construction (until 1949). Moller clung on for a few more years before dying in a plane crash in 1954.

Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

  • My only regret is that the moment was almost too perfect...

    Yuyuan Gardens & Bazaar

    2.16 MILES

    With its shaded alcoves, glittering pools churning with fish, plus pavilions, pines sprouting wistfully from rockeries, and roving packs of Japanese…

  • Sunrise on Bund Shanghai with walking man

    The Bund

    2.26 MILES

    Symbolic of concession-era Shanghai, the Bund was the city’s Wall Street, a place of feverish trading and fortunes made and lost. Originally a towpath for…

  • Close-Up Of Gold Male Statue In Jade Buddha Temple

    Jade Buddha Temple

    1.41 MILES

    One of Shanghai’s few active Buddhist monasteries, this temple was built between 1918 and 1928. The highlight is a transcendent Buddha crafted from pure…

  • China, Shanghai, Pudong, Shanghai Tower against sky

    Shanghai Tower

    2.99 MILES

    China’s tallest building dramatically twists skywards from its footing in Lujiazui. The 121-storey, 632m-tall, Gensler-designed Shanghai Tower topped out…

  • Souvenir shop in Tianzifang.

    Tianzifang

    1.29 MILES

    Tianzifang and Xintiandi are based on a similar idea – an entertainment complex housed within a warren of lòngtáng (弄堂, alleyways). Unlike Xintiandi,…

  • Xintiandi, Shanghai, China, Asia

    Xintiandi

    1.07 MILES

    With its own namesake metro station, Xintiandi has been a Shanghai icon for over a decade. An upmarket entertainment and shopping complex modelled on…

  • Shanghai,People's Square,Shanghai

    Shanghai Museum

    1.18 MILES

    This must-see museum escorts you through the craft of millennia and the pages of Chinese history. It's home to one of the most impressive collections in…

  • People at ShanghART art gallery, Moganshan Road, Shanghai, China, Asia

    M50

    1.76 MILES

    Shanghai may be known for its glitz and glamour, but it's got an edgy subculture too. The industrial M50 art complex is one prime example, where galleries…

View more attractions

Nearby attractions

1. Christ the King Church

0.21 MILES

The Christ the King Church, built in 1928, was originally located on Changle Rd in the French Concession. It's now situated on the corner of Julu and…

2. Shanghai Exhibition Centre

0.22 MILES

The hulking monolith of the Shanghai Exhibition Centre was built in 1955 as the Sino-Soviet Friendship Mansion – a friendship that soon turned sour and…

3. Sun Court

0.27 MILES

This multistorey apartment building was completed in 1928. Although it was named after real-estate mogul Sun Chunsheng (1899–1974), the Chinese translator…

4. Former Residence of Mao Zedong

0.3 MILES

The Great Helmsman Mao Zedong lived here in the latter half of 1924 with his second wife, Yang Kaihui, and their two children at the time, Anying and…

6. Zhang Garden

0.4 MILES

It’s hard not to be impressed by the beautiful shíkùmén architecture of Zhang Garden, down Taixing Rd, off West Nanjing Rd and west of Shimen No 1 Rd…

7. Mao Space

0.41 MILES

Located within the former short-term 1920s residence of Mao Zedong, this somewhat paradoxical pop-art gallery offers an intriguing insight to modern China…

8. Mao Zedong's 1920 Apartment

0.41 MILES

Though Mao Zedong only lived at this two-storey apartment for a few months in 1920, it's here the seeds were laid for the formation of the CCP. Within is…