MacDonnell Road (, formerly ) is a street in the

Mid-Levels Mid-Levels is an affluent residential area on Hong Kong Island in Hong Kong. It is located between Victoria Peak and Central. Residents are predominantly more affluent Hong Kong locals and expatriate professionals. The Mid-Levels is further ...

area of

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 ...

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 ...

. MacDonnell Road is one of the most expensive roads 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 ...

, together with Old Peak Road,

Magazine Gap Road Magazine Gap Road is a winding road on the affluent and ultra-expensive Mid-Levels and the Peak on the Hong Kong Island in Hong Kong. It is one of the main access leading to the Peak area. Description It starts low from Robinson Road and ...

, Tregunter Path,

Bowen Road Bowen Road () is a road from the Mid-Levels to Wong Nai Chung Gap of Hong Kong Island, on the slope above Central, Wan Chai and Happy Valley in Hong Kong. Bowen Road starts from Magazine Gap Road near the rail of Peak Tram and ends at the jun ...

, Borrett Road and

May Road May Road () is a road in Mid-Levels, Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. It is named after Sir Francis Henry May, the 15th Governor of Hong Kong. See also *List of streets and roads in Hong Kong The following are incomplete lists of notable express ...

Location

Starting from Garden Road, the road runs westward in the

and ends in Kennedy Road.

Name

MacDonnell Road is named after former

Hong Kong Governor The governor of Hong Kong was the representative of the British Crown in Hong Kong from 1843 to 1997. In this capacity, the governor was president of the Executive Council and commander-in-chief of the British Forces Overseas Hong Kong. ...

Richard Graves MacDonnell Sir Richard Graves MacDonnell (; 3 September 1814 – 5 February 1881) was an Anglo-Irish lawyer, judge and colonial governor. His posts as governor included Governor of the British Settlements in West Africa, Governor of Saint Vincent, Gove ...

, who was in office from 1866 to 1872. MacDonnell developed

Victoria Peak Victoria Peak is a hill on the western half of Hong Kong Island. It is also known as Mount Austin, and locally as The Peak only generally. With an elevation of , it is the highest hill on Hong Kong Island, ranked 29 in terms of elevation in H ...

during his tenure. Several streets in

Kowloon Kowloon () is an urban area in Hong Kong comprising the Kowloon Peninsula and New Kowloon. With a population of 2,019,533 and a population density of in 2006, it is the most populous area in Hong Kong, compared with Hong Kong Island and t ...

, built in the second half of the 19th century, were given names that were duplicates of street names on

. To avoid confusion, their names were changed in 1909, and MacDonnell Road on Kowloon was then renamed

Canton Road Canton Road is a major road in Hong Kong, linking the former west reclamation shore in Tsim Sha Tsui, Jordan, Yau Ma Tei, Mong Kok and Prince Edward on the Kowloon Peninsula. The road runs mostly parallel and west to Nathan Road. It starts ...

. The 1904 book ''English Made Easy'' by Mok Man Cheung was published in Hong Kong and listed MacDonnell Road as 'Mac Donald Road'. The Chinese name of

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...

, , is the same as the Chinese name of MacDonnell Road (), with meaning 'Road'. The first McDonald's restaurant was opened in Hong Kong in January 1975, and the name was chosen because it represented a 'well-known local street'.

History

Construction of MacDonnell Road started in 1891 and its first section was completed in 1892. The Road was extended eastward in 1899, then forming a junction with

in its eastern end.

Crown land Crown land (sometimes spelled crownland), also known as royal domain, is a territorial area belonging to the monarch, who personifies the Crown. It is the equivalent of an entailed estate and passes with the monarchy, being inseparable from it. ...

lots at MacDonnell Road were let by public auction for 999-year leases as early as 1896. The colonial government ceased offering such long leases after May 1898, and only a limited number of plots on

and in

have a lease term of 999 years. In 1903, parts of MacDonnell Road were infested with

anopheles ''Anopheles'' () is a genus of mosquito first described and named by J. W. Meigen in 1818. About 460 species are recognised; while over 100 can transmit human malaria, only 30–40 commonly transmit parasites of the genus ''Plasmodium'', which c ...

, and

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...

was rife there.

Nullah A nullah or nala ( Hindustani or "nallah" in Punjabi) is an 'arm of the sea', stream, or watercourse, a steep narrow valley. Like the wadi of the Arabs, the nullah is characteristic of mountainous or hilly country where there is little rainfall ...

s in the area were cleared as a preventive measure. Before World War II, the area below

was home to people from a number of ethnic backgrounds. Wealthy Japanese were living as high up as MacDonnell Road. During the

Battle of Hong Kong The Battle of Hong Kong (8–25 December 1941), also known as the Defence of Hong Kong and the Fall of Hong Kong, was one of the first battles of the Pacific War in World War II. On the same morning as the attack on Pearl Harbor, forces of the ...

in December 1941, the headquarters of the 2/14th Battalion, Punjab Regiment was located on MacDonnell Road. The 2/14 Punjab were part of the West Brigade, and their tactical area of responsibility stretched along the northwestern shore of Hong Kong Island from

Causeway Bay Causeway Bay is list of buildings, sites and areas in Hong Kong, an area and Victoria Park, Hong Kong, a bay on Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong, straddling the border of the Eastern District, Hong Kong, Eastern and the Wan Chai District, Wan Chai ...

to Belcher's Point, including the defense of the Governor's House and of Major General Maltby's headquarters.

Features

Features along the road include: * No. 1:

YWCA The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) is a nonprofit organization with a focus on empowerment, leadership, and rights of women, young women, and girls in more than 100 countries. The World office is currently based in Geneva, Swi ...

Hong Kong headquarters * No. 2: St. John Tower (), which houses the headquarters of

Hong Kong St. John Ambulance Hong Kong St. John Ambulance () is a charitable organisation with a long history stretching back over a century and has been serving the community since 1884. Adhered to its motto, "For the Service of Mankind", the organisation is dedicated to ...

. The building also houses Two MacDonnell Road, which features

serviced apartment Short-term rental describes furnished self-contained apartments that are rented for short periods of time, usually by the month as opposed to annual rentals in the unfurnished apartment rental market. They are seen as an alternative to hotels. "Sh ...

s. * MacDonnell Road Bridge. MacDonnell Road crosses the tracks of the

Peak Tram The Peak Tram is a funicular railway in Hong Kong, which carries both tourists and residents to the upper levels of Hong Kong Island. Running from Garden Road Admiralty to Victoria Peak via the Mid-Levels, it provides the most direct route and o ...

at MacDonnell Road Bridge, near

MacDonnell Road stop MacDonnell Road is an intermediate station on the Peak Tram. It is located on MacDonnell Road, in Mid-Levels, Hong Kong, 95 metres above sea level. The station comprises a single platform on the western side of the single track. MacDonnell Ro ...

. An existing bridge was demolished and rebuilt in

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete (RC), also called reinforced cement concrete (RCC) and ferroconcrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having hig ...

, supported on granite columns, in 1938. * No. 31: Hong Kong Branch of the

First Church of Christ, Scientist The First Church of Christ, Scientist is the administrative headquarters and mother church of the Church of Christ, Scientist, also known as the Christian Science church. Christian Science was founded in the 19th century in Lynn, Massachusetts ...

. Built in 1912, this building is the only branch of this religious denomination in Hong Kong.

Antiquities Advisory Board The Antiquities Advisory Board (AAB) is a statutory body of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region with the responsibility of advising the Antiquities Authority on any matters relating to antiquities and monuments. The AAB was establish ...

. Historic Building Appraisal
First Church of Christ, Scientist. No. 31 MacDonnell Road, Central
/ref> An annex was added in 1956.

Antiquities and Monuments Office The Antiquities and Monuments Office (AMO) was established in 1976 under the Antiquities and Monuments Ordinance to protect and preserve Hong Kong's historic monuments. Housed in the Former Kowloon British School, the AMO is responsible for iden ...

Central and Western Heritage Trail The Central and Western Heritage Trail is a Heritage trails in Hong Kong, Heritage Trail in Hong Kong, that was designed by the Antiquities and Monuments Office of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department. It covers the Central and Western Dist ...

First Church of Christ Scientist Hong Kong
/ref> The church is listed as a Grade II historic building.

List of the 1,444 Historic Buildings with Assessment Results
/ref> * No. 33: St. Paul's Co-educational College. Founded in 1915 as St. Paul's Girls' College, the College was relocated in 1927 to its current location at No. 33 MacDonnell Road, which was granted by the Government in 1924. It has been the site of the school since then. The school became Hong Kong's first co-educational school in 1945. The 1927 school building is a Grade II historic building. * No. 75: Office of the Commissioner of The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of The People's Republic of China in Hong Kong (the address is No. 42 Kennedy Road and No. 75 MacDonnell Road)

Notable residents

Stanley Ho Stanley Ho Hung-sun (; 25 November 192126 May 2020) was a Hong Kong-Macau billionaire businessman. His original patrilineal surname was Bosman, which was later sinicized to 何 (Ho). He was the founder and chairman of SJM Holdings, which owns ...

(1921-2020), Hong Kong-

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...

billionaire businessman. Ho grew up in a two-house residence on MacDonnell Road, "with two gardens that ran for half a mile". *

Lee Shau-kee Lee Shau-kee GBM (; born 7 March 1928 in Shunde, Guangdong, China) is a Hong Kong business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He is a real estate tycoon and majority owner of Henderson Land Development, a property conglomerate with inter ...

(born 1928), Hong Kong business magnate. Lee and his family lived in the penthouse at Eva Court () at 36 MacDonnell Road from 1984 to the 2010s. The 22-storey residential building had been developed for the Lee family and was named after Lee Shau-kee's ex-wife, Lau Wai-ken. In 2010, Lee spent HK$1.82 billion for a plot of land on The Peak to build his new home. The newly acquired plot was the most expensive residential site in the world at the time on a per square foot basis. *

Kenny Bee Chung Chun-to (born 23 February 1953), also known by his stage name Kenny Bee, is a Hong Kong singer, musician and actor. He is best known as the singer of the group the Wynners, and as a solo artist who has been active in the Hong Kong ente ...

(born 1953), Hong Kong singer, musician and actor. He released an autobiography in December 2007, titled ' (''MacDonnell Road''), named after the street he grew up on.

Cited buildings

Several buildings along MacDonnell Road have been cited in books and research articles. They include: * Cases involving several buildings along MacDonnell Road have contributed to the clarification of the legal definition of "immediate neighborhood " in Hong Kong. They include the ''No. 3 MacDonnell Road Case'' and ''Nos. 16-18 MacDonnell Road Case''. * E.H. Ray, Joyce Symons' granduncle lived at MacDonnell Road before World War II. His house was commandeered by the military during the

. * No. 6.

Noel Croucher Noel Croucher (24 December 1891 – 6 March 1980) was a British businessman and philanthropist who served as chairman of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and was on the board of directors for Green Island Cement and The Hong Kong and China Gas Compa ...

bought and redeveloped the property at No. 6 MacDonnell Road in the 1950s and he owned it for many years.

Conservation

The western half of MacDonnell Road is part of the Central Route of the

of the

Hong Kong Tourist Association The Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) is a Government-subvented body founded in 2001. The Board replaced the Hong Kong Tourist Association (HKTA) established in 1957. It has 15 branch offices and representative offices in 6 markets around the w ...

. The Route includes the First Church of Christ Scientist Hong Kong and St. Paul's Co-educational College.

St. Paul's Co-educational College
/ref>

Transportation

The

meets the road near the St. Paul's Co-educational College. Other than the Peak Tram (

), MacDonnell Road can be reached by Citybus route 12A running from

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong *Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Traf ...

, and the

Public light bus The public light bus or minibus is a public transport service in Hong Kong. It uses minibuses to serve areas that standard Hong Kong bus lines cannot reach efficiently. The vehicles are colloquially known by the code-switch ' (Van Jái) lite ...

route 1A running from Star Ferry in Central.

References

External links

Google Maps of MacDonnell Road
* Gwulo.com entries

{{HKislandroads Mid-Levels Roads on Hong Kong Island