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The Majestic Hotel authorship
Project type
Original Letters Lafuente
Date
1926
Location
Shanghai, China
In 1926, Abelardo Lafuente dispatched a letter from Shanghai to the editor of Madrid’s La Nación, enclosing his professional portfolio alongside a stark account of his life abroad.
As virtually the only Spanish architect operating in the city, Lafuente detailed the steep uphill battle of building a career in Asia. Despite landing contracts with the region’s premier hotel enterprise, he faced persistent professional blockades: the company restricted him strictly to interior design, systematically denying him structural architectural projects simply because of his Spanish nationality.
Even against these headwinds, Lafuente asserted his undeniable footprint on the skyline—highlighting his role as the architect behind the iconic Hotel Majestic—before sharing broader dispatches on the lives, struggles, and triumphs of the local Spanish expatriate community.