Photography Grand Hotel Wagon Lits and Yokohama Bank for International Trade

A black-and-white photograph showing the Grand Hotel Wagon Lits in the foreground and behind it the Yokohama Shokin Ginko (Yokohama Shokin Ginko 横浜正金銀行) in Beijing’s Legation Quarter (Dongjiaominxiang 東交民巷). Between 1861 and 1959, the latter was established in the area of the Inner City (Neicheng 内城), east of present-day Tiananmen Square (Tiananmen Guangchang 天安門廣場), and south of the Forbidden City (Gugong 故宫 or Zijincheng 紫禁城). The territories of each legation were surrounded by a wall. In the legations, foreign powers built various infrastructures – from churches, hospitals, barracks, post offices and schools to banks and hippodromes.

The Grand Hotel Wagons Lits was built in 1905 in Beijing next to the railway station by the company Compagnie Internationale des Grands Hotels – a subsidiary of the international company Wagons-Lits (Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits). It was the first grand hotel in the diplomatic quarter of Beijing. The original building, in the Flemish-Gothic style, soon proved too small, so by 1914 it was expanded into the grandiose building shown in the photograph. In his 1917 edition, the famous travel guide Thomas Cook also recommends the Grand Hotel Wagons Lits in his selection for Beijing.

Wagons-Lits International Corporation is an international hotel, travel and logistics company known especially for catering and sleeping cars. The company is the historical operator of the Orient Express. Early on, it created a business model whereby, in addition to providing transportation in luxury cars, it also provided its customers with suitable hotels at key destinations on its lines.

The Yokohama Bank for International Trade (Yokohama shōkin ginkō 横浜正金銀行) was a Japanese bank founded in 1880 in Yokohama, Japan. It played an important role in Japan’s overseas trade, especially with China, where eight branches were situated between 1880 and 1926. In 1910, the third branch was opened in Beijing. The building still stands on the street that was the main avenue through the diplomatic quarter and is now called Dongjiaominxiang Street (東交民巷).

The photograph is the 59th of 449 photographs of Beijing and its surroundings in the album of Ivan Skušek Jr., purchased during his stay in Beijing (1914–1920). In the handwritten inventory of the album, the photograph is referred to as Hotel “Waggon Lits” [sic] und Yokohama-Bank. (DZ, MV)