At the center of the development sits a cluster of restored Qing dynasty courtyard buildings, their grey-tiled sweeping roofs and timber-latticed facades pressed up against two contemporary stone towers that rise nine floors above Chengdu's Chunxi Road shopping district. This layered collision — ancient and new sharing a single site — is exactly the organizing idea behind The Temple House, the Swire Hotels property that opened in 2015 with architecture by Make Architects and interiors by the Hong Kong-based Joyce Wang Studio. The towers are clad in textured limestone panels divided by dark metal reveals, a massing that keeps the new construction in quiet dialogue with the historic structures below without pretending to mimic them. Joyce Wang's interiors translate that same conversation into furniture and material. Guest rooms in the contemporary tower range from spare and luminous — bleached oak panelling, off-white wool rugs, modular seating in pale linen — to the more theatrically Chinese register of the black-lacquered fretwork bed canopies visible in the upper-floor suites, their geometric lattice pattern lifted directly from traditional Sichuan joinery. The restaurant, by contrast, leans into a darkly glamorous mid-century mood: green leather Chesterfield banquettes, dark emperador marble columns, and a coffered brass ceiling grid that throws warm reflected light across walnut barrel chairs. Below grade, the pool chamber is among the more quietly dramatic spaces in any Chinese city hotel, its concentric elliptical ceiling ribs — illuminated in alternating bands of gold and shadow — echoing the ripple mosaic inlaid into the pool floor beneath.

No travel notes provided yet.

Upper House Chengdu is one of three Houses of the Upper House brand, located in the heart of Chengdu within Taikoo Li Chengdu, a bustling open-plan complex combining retail and heritage. The 100-room House and its 42 serviced residences form an integral part of the city government’s conservation project to preserve the surrounding heritage buildings next to the thousand-year-old Daci Temple. Elegant bamboo trees frame the House’s entrance, which is set in a beautifully restored hundred-year-old Chinese courtyard built in the Qing Dynasty. Mi Xun houses the MICHELIN-starred Mi Xun Teahouse serving vegan Sichuan cuisine - the only restaurant in the city to be recognised with a Green Star - as well as an award-winning spa. Upper House Chengdu also offers a dynamic collection of outlets including The Temple Café – the all-day dining restaurant, Tivano – a MICHELIN guide selected Italian restaurant, and Jing Bar – a lively bar featuring live DJs.