The First Luxury Hotel in Hong Kong

Walking down Queen’s Road Central, at the junction with Pedder Street, you’ll most likely have walked past Central Building, and you probably haven’t paid it much attention.

If the building itself is of little interest, the land on which it was built holds great historical significance. At this very location, the Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels Limited— the oldest registered company on the Hong Kong Companies Registry—constructed Hong Kong’s first luxury hotel, simply named the Hongkong Hotel, which opened in 1868. In the late 1880s, a six-storey north-wing extension of the Hongkong Hotel was then built on the waterfront.

It may sound surprising, as the junction of Queen’s Road Central and Pedder Street now lies about 700 metres (2,300 feet) from Victoria Harbour. However, in the nineteenth century, before extensive land reclamation projects had been undertaken, the Hongkong Hotel was a prominent presence on the waterfront of Victoria City, or present-day Central, and could be seen from Victoria Harbour.

Unfortunately, in 1929, the north wing of the Hongkong Hotel burned down. Although the original part of the hotel remained popular, it closed in 1952 and was eventually demolished. In 1958, the unremarkable Central Building was constructed in its place.