The Peak Tower is a leisure and shopping complex located at

Victoria Gap Victoria Gap () is an area and a mountain pass located between the summits of Victoria Peak (aka. Mount Austin) and Mount Gough, on Hong Kong Island, in Hong Kong. It is the most touristic place within the area referred to as '' The Peak'', ...

, near the summit of

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 Ho ...

Hong Kong Island Hong Kong Island is an 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/km2, . The island had a population of a ...

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 List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...

. It also houses the upper terminal 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 ...

. Both the Peak Tower and the Peak Tram are owned by the Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels group, the owner of Hong Kong's Peninsula Hotel and other properties. The tower and tram are jointly promoted by the collective branding known as The Peak. The Peak Tower is located at an elevation of 396 m, 156 m below the summit of Victoria Peak. Because the architects sought a design which would be prominent on the skyline but would not interrupt the natural line of the hills, they chose a site in a dip along the line of the hills, and restricted the tower's height to 428 m above sea level.

History

The

opened in 1888. A wooden structure was built as its first upper terminus station. The current Peak Tower is the second on the site.

First design

The first peak Tower was designed by Hong Kong architect Chung Wah Nan. Construction started in 1971, and it was opened to the public on 29 August 1972. The Tower Restaurant, a western restaurant, opened in the same year. It was situated on the top deck while the Peak Coffee Shop was located on the floor below. Both the upper floors were supported by two columns allowing a clear space between the upper and lower parts of the tower. This design feature has been retained in the redeveloped tower, but with quite a different shape to the upper section. On the ground floor of the building, there was a Chinese restaurant. It has been open until 1981. The first tower was demolished in 1993 and a groundbreaking ceremony on the new tower was held later the same year.

Second design

The current Peak Tower was the work of the British architect Terry Farrell, and was completed in 1997. It has seven floors with a total area of 10,400 m² (112,000 ft²) with a '' wok'' shape at the top. A viewing platform located on the third floor overlooks

Victoria Harbour Victoria Harbour is a natural landform harbor, 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 instrume ...

. The building was altered from 2005–2006 at a cost of $100 million. The lower portion was glassed in to increase retail space, and the escalators were relocated. The Peak Tower now has eight floors with the viewing terrace relocated to the top of the building (at the top of the 'wok' shape) that overlooks both Victoria Harbour and

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), a ...

(SW of the Hong Kong Island); however, severe air pollution often hinders the outlook from this venue.

Attractions

Apart from the

terminal, viewing terrace, and gift shops, the tower also included several attractions: ''

Ripley's Believe It or Not! Odditorium ''Ripley's Believe It or Not!'' is an American franchise founded by Robert Ripley, which deals in bizarre events and items so strange and unusual that readers might question the claims. Originally a newspaper panel, the ''Believe It or Not'' feat ...

'', ''Hong Kong's Historical Adventure'' (a journey through scenes of the Hong Kong's early history, and the first computer-operated entertainment ride in Hong Kong) and the ''Peak Explorer Motion Simulator''. In 2000, after the closure of ''Hong Kong's Historical Adventure'', '' Madame Tussauds Hong Kong'' moved in to occupy the former vacated premises to become the first

Madame Tussauds Madame Tussauds (, ) is a wax museum founded in 1835 by French wax sculptor Marie Tussaud in London, spawning similar museums in major cities around the world. While it used to be spelled as "Madame Tussaud's"; the apostrophe is no longer us ...

permanent outlet in the

Asia-Pacific Asia-Pacific (APAC) is the part of the world near the western Pacific Ocean. The Asia-Pacific region varies in area depending on context, but it generally includes East Asia, Russian Far East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and Paci ...

region. The Peak Tower is located close to a second leisure and shopping centre,

the Peak Galleria The Peak Galleria () is a leisure and shopping complex and a tourist attraction located at Victoria Gap, near the summit of Victoria Peak on Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. It is owned and run by Hang Lung Properties. It includes a bus termin ...

, built atop the bus station used by the public buses and green minibuses that serve the Peak.

References

External links

*
Peak Tower I (1972-1994) entry
at gwulo.com {{Coord, 22, 16, 17.49, N, 114, 8, 59.45, E, type:landmark_region:CN, display=title Landmarks in Hong Kong Shopping centres in Hong Kong Terry Farrell buildings Tourist attractions in Hong Kong Victoria Peak