HSBC's Lions Were Modelled After the Lions at the Venetian Arsenal

Ever since 1935, two bronze lions—locally known as Stephen and Stitt—have stood guard at the entrance of HSBC’s headquarters in Central, Hong Kong. Yet, although The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation was founded in Hong Kong, Stephen and Stitt were neither imagined nor created there, but in Shanghai.

In 1921, the Chief Manager of HSBC's Shanghai branch was deeply impressed by the stone lions standing guard outside the Arsenal gate in Venice, Italy. He decided that a pair of lions would look magnificent and provide a sense of security at the entrance of HSBC’s new Shanghai headquarters on the Bund, which was completed in 1923.

London-based sculptor Henry Poole was commissioned to create the two statues. However, rather than making direct copies of Venice’s stone lions, Poole created an original Western design. The lions quickly became popular and were nicknamed Stephen—the roaring lion—and Stitt—the quiescent lion–after the then top managers of HSBC’s Shanghai branch.

Stephen and Stitt became so popular in Shanghai that HSBC commissioned another British sculptor, W.W. Wagstaff, to cast a similar, though not identical, pair of lions for the bank's headquarters in Hong Kong. Both lions were unveiled in October 1935, just in time for the official opening of the third-generation headquarters that same month.

With the exception of three hiatuses—in the 1940s due to the Second World War, in the 1980s for the construction of the current headquarters, and in 2020 for restoration after being damaged by protesters—Stephen and Stitt have stood guard at the entrance of the building ever since.