Jardine House (), formerly known as Connaught Centre (), is an office tower in

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 ...

. The building is located at 1 Connaught Place,

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 Island Hong Kong Island is an Islands and peninsulas of Hong Kong, island in the southern part of Hong Kong. Known colloquially and on road signs simply as Hong Kong, the island has a population of 1,289,500 and its population density is 16,390/km ...

. It is owned by Hongkong Land Limited, a subsidiary of Jardines. At the time of its completion in 1972, Jardine House was the

tallest building in Hong Kong Hong Kong has over 9,000 Tower block, high-rise buildings, of which over 4,000 are skyscrapers standing taller than with 517 buildings above . The tallest building in Hong Kong is the 108-storey International Commerce Centre, which stands ...

and in Asia. In 1980, the Hopewell Centre usurped the title of the tallest building in Hong Kong. The building is interconnected by the

Central Elevated Walkway The Central Elevated Walkway is an extensive footbridge network spanning Admiralty, Central and parts of Sheung Wan, near Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong. The system was built in phases by the Hong Kong Government and various developers, such as ...

with buildings of Hongkong Land Limited like

Exchange Square Exchange may refer to: Physics *Gas exchange is the movement of oxygen and carbon dioxide molecules from a region of higher concentration to a region of lower concentration. Places United States * Exchange, Indiana, an unincorporated community * ...

and the International Finance Centre. There is also another Jardine House in

Hamilton, Bermuda The City of Hamilton, in Pembroke Parish, is the territorial capital of the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda. It is the territory's financial centre and a major port and tourist destination. Its population of 854 (2016) is one of the sm ...

, which serves as the

registered office A registered office is the official address of an incorporated company, association or any other legal entity. Generally it will form part of the public record and is required in most countries where the registered organization or legal entity ...

for Jardines'

Bermuda ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = " Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , e ...

-domiciled businesses (most of Jardines' businesses including Jardine Matheson Holdings and Hongkong Land are incorporated and domiciled in Bermuda).

History

Tcitp d219 old premises of jardine matheson and co

Previous Jardine Houses

The first three generations of Jardine Houses were situated at 20

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 ...

, at the corner of

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 ...

. The first Jardine House was probably built around 1841 after Jardine's successful bid for its lots on The

Praya Praya () was a term used in Colonial Hong Kong to refer to a promenade by the waterfront. The name comes from the Portuguese word ''praia'', which means "beach," but in China it came to mean a stone-faced waterfront road. In Hong Kong, it was ...

Central. In 1908, the second Jardine House was built. It was rebuilt in around 1956 as a 16-storey building. The building was sold by Jardines during the land acquisition exercise of the Landmark complex in Central and 20 Pedder Street is now occupied by the

Wheelock House Wheelock House () is a commercial office building located on Pedder Street in Central, Hong Kong. Wheelock House is a Class A office space completed in 1984 and has 24 storeys. One of its architects was Wong & Ouyang (HK) Ltd while the real estate ...

New Jardine House

BOC HSBC Cheung Kong Center Jardine House

The new building was constructed on a piece of

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 land from oceans, seas, riverbeds or lake beds. The land reclaimed is known as reclamati ...

, under a lease term of 75 years, which was secured by Hongkong Land Limited at a record price of

HK$ The Hong Kong dollar (, sign: HK$; code: HKD) is the official currency of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. It is subdivided into 100 cents or 1000 mils. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority is the monetary authority of Hong Kong and ...

258 million in 1970, payable interest free over a period of 10 years. In exchange, the Government agreed that no building directly to the north of Jardine House would ever be built to obstruct its views. As a result, the height of General Post Office building was capped at . Building costs were estimated at $120 million. Construction of the fifty-two-storey building took 16 months. Metal lettering from the Old Jardine House was salvaged and used in the lobby of the New Jardine House.

Design

The building is constructed with a metal frame, and a curtain wall with round windows. The thickness of the structural frame is reduced because of the shape of the windows. Unusually for a Jardine property, elevators were produced by

Otis Elevator Otis Worldwide Corporation ( branded as the Otis Elevator Company, its former legal name) is an American company that develops, manufactures and markets elevators, escalators, moving walkways, and related equipment. Based in Farmington, Connec ...

(was the fastest in Asia at the time of opening, one bank reaching speeds of ), while escalators were manufactured by Schindler Elevator (Jardine was and is still Schindler Elevator's partner in Asia). Schindler would modernize the elevators later in the mid-2000s. The circular design of the windows has earned the building the nickname, "The House of a Thousand Arseholes."

In popular culture

Jardine House was prominently displayed in the 1988

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

television miniseries '' Noble House'' as the headquarters for Struan's in a subtle nod to James Clavell using Jardines as a model for Struan's. It also appeared in establishing shots in ''

The Amsterdam Kill ''The Amsterdam Kill'' () is a 1977 film directed by Robert Clouse. It stars Robert Mitchum and Richard Egan. Plot Former DEA Agent Quinlan, removed from the force some years earlier for stealing confiscated drug money, is hired by Chung Wei, ...

'', and was climbed by a giant gorilla in the climax of ''

The Mighty Peking Man ''The Mighty Peking Man'' (猩猩王) (Mandarin: ''Xīngxing Wáng'' – which translates to "Gorilla King" in English) is a 1977 giant monster film produced by Shaw Brothers Studio to capitalize on the craze surrounding the 1976 remake of '' ...

'' (1977). The building was also featured in the 1978 episode titled "The Chinese Web" of ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' TV series.

Gallery

File:Jardine House seen from IFC2.jpg, Jardine House seen from IFC2 in May 2013 File:Jardine House taken from the Pedestrian bridge skywalk entrance.jpg, Taken from the Pedestrian bridge skywalk at Central/IFC in September 2011 File:HK Central Jardine House C1.JPG, Jardine House in April 2007 File:HK Statue Square Xmas Tree Mandarin Oriental Hotel.JPG, The Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Jardine House and IFC2 seen from

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 n ...

in December 2006 File:HK Jardine House Lift Lobby.jpg, Jardine House lift lobby in Ground Floor in June 2008

References

External links

Jardine House, Hong Kong Land website
*Pictures of Jardine House a
Gwulo entry
with details about the early Jardine Houses {{Hong Kong Skyscrapers Skyscraper office buildings in Hong Kong Central, Hong Kong Hongkong Land Office buildings completed in 1973 1973 establishments in Hong Kong