The Middle House is now Upper House Shanghai: what changed

The Middle House, the Swire Hotels house that opened on West Nanjing Road in 2018, is now called Upper House Shanghai. Swire Hotels made the change on 15 October 2025, when it brought its houses in Hong Kong, Chengdu and Shanghai under one brand, Upper House.

For a traveller, little else moved. Upper House Shanghai, our pick among the 16 best luxury hotels in Shanghai, has the same address in Jing'an, the same 111 rooms and 102 serviced apartments, and the same restaurants. Below: what Swire announced, what stays the same, where the old name still turns up, and the houses to come.

What Swire Hotels announced on 15 October 2025

Swire Hotels, the hotel arm of Swire Properties, launched Upper House as a global brand for the properties it used to group as The House Collective. Each house had its own name until then: The Upper House in Hong Kong, The Temple House in Chengdu, The Middle House in Shanghai. All three now carry the name of the Hong Kong flagship, followed by the city.

Dean Winter, managing director of Swire Hotels, said in the announcement that "the rebrand heralds a new chapter for Upper House as a single, iconic brand". Swire did not publish an effective date for each house. The Shanghai house's pages on the brand site now sit at upperhouse.com/en/shanghai.

What stays the same in Shanghai

The house is the one Swire Properties opened in May 2018 in HKRI Taikoo Hui, the development of offices and shops on the historic Dazhongli site, at No. 366 Shi Men Yi Road. It is still two buildings around a bamboo garden:

• the hotel building, with 111 studios from 50 to 90 m² and a top-floor Penthouse of 660 m² with two bedrooms;
• the second building, renamed Upper House Shanghai Apartments, with 102 serviced apartments of 55 to 110 m², each with a full kitchen.

Piero Lissoni's interiors, Café Gray Deluxe on Level 3 with its terrace over Nanjing West Road, Sui Tang Li for Shanghai cooking and dim sum, the 25 m heated indoor pool and the Mi Xun Spa are all unchanged. So are the distinctions: the house kept its one Michelin Key in the 2026 selection, after receiving it in the first mainland China selection in 2025, and Forbes Travel Guide rates it Four-Star for 2026.

Our full review of Upper House Shanghai lists the room categories, the restaurants and what to know before booking.

Where the old name still turns up

A name change takes time to reach every page. The Michelin Guide lists the house as Upper House Shanghai, but its page address still reads the-middle-house-8864. Reviews written before October 2025, older magazine lists and some booking pages still say The Middle House.

When comparing prices or reading reviews, search for both names: a review of The Middle House is a review of the hotel you will stay in. On a booking site, check the address, No. 366 Shi Men Yi Road, Jing'an District, to be sure.

The Upper House family, old and new names

Upper House Hong Kong, in Admiralty, is the house that gave the brand its name; it ranks No. 8 in The World's 50 Best Hotels for 2026. Upper House Chengdu sits in Taikoo Li, next to the Daci Temple. The Opposite House in Beijing closed on 30 June 2024 to make way for retail, and is not part of the new brand.

The houses to come

The same announcement lists four projects under the Upper House name:

• Shenzhen, in 2027, designed by Büro Ole Scheeren;
• Xi'an, in 2028, by Shigeru Ban and LAYAN, in the Taikoo Li Xi'an development;
• Tokyo, in 2029, in Shibuya, by Snøhetta;
• Bangkok, in 2030, with Upper House Residences by Foster + Partners, the brand's first branded residences.

Is Upper House Shanghai still our pick?

Yes. The name changed, the reasons we rank it first did not. It sits a short walk from West Nanjing Road station, where metro lines 2, 12 and 13 meet; its studios start at 50 m²; and with 102 serviced apartments it is the only house in our Shanghai ranking built for a stay of several weeks. Its limits are the same too: no view of the river, an indoor pool only, and no Michelin-starred restaurant.

To weigh it against its nearest rival in Jing'an, read Upper House Shanghai vs The PuLi.