Chater Road is a three-lane road in

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

named after

Sir Paul Chater Sir Catchick Paul Chater ( hy, Փոլ Չաթեր; ; 8 September 1846 – 27 May 1926) was a prominent British businessman of Armenian descent in colonial Hong Kong, whose family roots were in Calcutta, India. Biography Early life Chater was ...

. It begins at its intersection with

Pedder Street Pedder Street is a major thoroughfare in the core of Hong Kong's Central District. It runs south–north from Queen's Road Central, continues through Des Voeux Road Central, and ends at its intersection with Connaught Road Central. History ...

and

Des Voeux Road Central Des is a masculine given name, mostly a short form (hypocorism) of Desmond. People named Des include: People * Des Buckingham, English football manager * Des Corcoran, (1928–2004), Australian politician * Des Dillon (disambiguation), severa ...

in the west, and ends at

Murray Road Murray Road () is a road in Hong Kong. It is sometimes considered a boundary between Admiralty and Central. Along with a few other places in the area, it was named after Sir George Murray, a soldier and politician from Scotland. Notable building ...

in the east. It divides

Statue Square Statue Square (; lit. "Empress' Statue Square") is a public pedestrian square in Central, Hong Kong. Built entirely on reclaimed land at the end of the 19th century, Statue Square consists of two parts separated by Chater Road into a nort ...

into a southern and a northern sections.

History

Chater Road is named after

, a leading figure in early colonial Hong Kong, who was instrumental in the

Praya Reclamation Scheme The Praya Reclamation Scheme () was a large scale land reclamation project carried out by the Hong Kong Land company in Colonial Hong Kong under Sir Catchick Paul Chater and James Johnstone Keswick. Early proposal The project was first proposed i ...

, which created the

reclaimed land Land reclamation, usually known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new Terrestrial ecoregion, land from oceans, list of seas, seas, Stream bed, riverbeds or lak ...

on which the road is built.

Chater House Chater House () is an office tower in Central, Hong Kong. Opened in March 2003, it is a part of the Hongkong Land portfolio of properties. It has a three-level retail podium, known as Landmark Chater. The building was built on the site of th ...

, owned by Hongkong Land, is located at the western end of the road, which abuts the similarly dedicated

Chater Garden Chater Garden, located in the Central District of Hong Kong, is a public park directly east of the Legislative Council building. It is named after Sir Paul Chater, as is the adjacent Chater Road. History In the early days of British ru ...

, a public square in the middle of the central business district.

Events

Since the growth in the number of

foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong Foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong () are domestic workers employed by Hongkongers, typically families. Comprising five percent of Hong Kong's population, about 98.5% of them are women. In 2019, there were 400,000 foreign domestic helpers ...

, the road is now usually closed on Sundays and on Hong Kong bank holidays, when the road and surrounding areas are full of domestic helpers gathering and enjoy their day off work. Impromptu parties with music and dancing are frequent. Almost all of the people share picnics with their friends.

Sites along the road

Points of interest along the road include (from west to east): *

* St George's Building *

Alexandra House Alexandra House () is an office building in Central, Hong Kong near Central station. The building has 37 levels. It hosts a shopping arcade, Landmark Alexandra, and it is connected to the Central Elevated Walkway. The block formed by Alexand ...

* Mandarin Oriental Hotel *

Prince's Building Prince's Building is an office tower with a six-level shopping centre, known as Landmark Prince's. Located along the western side of the southern section of Statue Square in Central, Hong Kong near Central station, the building is connected to ...

* World War I cenotaph *

Court of Final Appeal Building The Court of Final Appeal Building, also known as the Old Supreme Court Building, is the home of the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong. It housed the former Supreme Court from 1912 to 1983 and the Legislative Council from 1985 to 2011. ...

Hong Kong Club Building The Hong Kong Club Building () is a 25-story office building located in between Chater Road and Connaught Road Central at the junction of Jackson Road, in Central, Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Club Building is currently in its third generation, in ...

AIA Central The AIA Central (), formerly called AIG Tower (), in Hong Kong is a 185-metre (607 ft.), 37-storey skyscraper that was completed in 2005 and serves as the headquarters of AIA Group. It is located in Central, not far from the landmark Ba ...

, former cricket ground and common location for protests The former Furama Kempinski Hotel was located along the road as well. The hotel has been replaced by the AIG Tower, later renamed AIA Central.

Public transport

Part of the MTR's

Tsuen Wan line The Tsuen Wan line is one of the eleven lines of the metro network in Hong Kong's MTR. It is indicated in red on the MTR map. There are 16 stations on the line. The southern terminus is Central station on Hong Kong Island and the nor ...

runs underneath the road, and the Tsuen Wan line station serving the area was originally called Chater in English. It was later renamed

together with the

Island line Island Line or Island line may refer to: * Island line (MTR), one of the lines of the MTR metro system in Hong Kong * Island Line, Isle of Wight, a railway line on the Isle of Wight, England ** Island Line (brand) Island Line is a brand of the ...

Pedder station nearby.

References

External links