The Hongkong Hotel was

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 ...

's first luxury hotel modelled after sumptuous London hotels. It opened on Queen's Road and Pedder Street in 1868, later expanding into the

Victoria Harbour Victoria Harbour is a natural landform harbour in Hong Kong separating Hong Kong Island in the south from the Kowloon Peninsula to the north. The harbour's deep, sheltered waters and strategic location on South China Sea were instrumental i ...

waterfront of

Victoria City Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychel ...

in 1893.

History

The original hotel stood roughly on the site of the present Central Building at Queen's Road Central and Pedder Street. It was owned by The Hongkong Hotel Company, which later became

The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels, Limited The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels, Limited (HSH) is the holding company of a hotel group. It is engaged in the ownership, development and management of The Peninsula Hotels; commercial and residential properties in Asia, the United States and Eu ...

, current owner of

The Peninsula Hotels The Peninsula Hotels is a chain of luxury hotels operated by Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels. Founded by the Kadoorie family, the first hotel opened in 1928 and now stands as the oldest in Hong Kong. History Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels, Limite ...

chain. In the late 1880s the six-storey north wing extension was built on the waterfront, with entrances on Pedder Street, Queen's Road and Praya Central (now Des Voeux Road Central). Competing in all respects with the Peak Hotel, owned by The Star Ferry Company, the management provided a special launch to meet arriving passengers on incoming P&O mail steamers and ferry them direct to the hotel's pier. A shop of Kuhn & Komor was located on the ground floor of the hotel, along Queen's Road. After the north wing burned down in 1929, the original part of the hotel, especially the large Gripps Restaurant, continued to be popular with the public, but the hotel eventually closed in 1952. The hotel building was bought by the owner of the 1949 Hong Kong Derby Champion and lead investor of a company which was later renamed Central Development Limited. Extensive renovation was done, but the part which once housed the popular Gripps Restaurant was torn down. In 1958, Central Building opened as a modern retail and office building, as it has remained at the present day.

The north wing

The six-storey north wing of the hotel facing the waterfront opened in 1893.Feature: Buildings for Pedder Street since colonialisation
, Sing Pao, 29 October 2005 It replaced the Melcher's Building, which itself was formerly owned by Dent & Co., where the west wing of its "princely hong" headquarters was located. The north wing of the hotel burned down on New Year's Day, 1926 and in 1928 the site was acquired by Hong Kong Land and Gloucester Tower constructed in 1932. It was redeveloped into The Landmark in 1979.Trevor Bedford, Hong Kong Land, reported in "Meeting heritage challenge", South China Morning Post, 30 November 1978

References

{{coord, 22.28118, 114.15844, display=title Hotel buildings completed in 1868 History of Hong Kong Defunct hotels in Hong Kong Demolished buildings and structures in Hong Kong Hotels established in 1866 Hotels disestablished in 1926 1866 establishments in Hong Kong 1926 disestablishments in Hong Kong Demolished hotels Defunct companies of Hong Kong

History

The north wing

See also

References