Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong - panoramio - ken93110 (2)

East Tsim Sha Tsui Station 2020 10 part7

Middle Road () is a street in the southern part of

Tsim Sha Tsui Tsim Sha Tsui, often abbreviated as TST, is an list of areas of Hong Kong, urban area in southern Kowloon, Hong Kong. The area is administratively part of the Yau Tsim Mong District. Tsim Sha Tsui East is a piece of land reclaimed from the Hu ...

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 ...

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 street runs from Kowloon Park Drive in the west to the entrance of

East Tsim Sha Tsui station East Tsim Sha Tsui () is a station of the Mass Transit Railway (MTR) system of Hong Kong. It is currently an intermediate station on the . The station was built to alleviate surface traffic jams and passenger congestion at Kowloon Tong stati ...

in the east, where it makes a 90-degree turn to the south, terminating at

Salisbury Road Salisbury Road is a major road in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Description It runs parallel to Victoria Harbour, starting from its western end at the Star Ferry Pier, passing by Blackhead Point, to Tsim Sha Tsui East. It intersects wi ...

. Part of Middle Road marks the original coastline of Tsim Sha Tsui prior to

land reclamation 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 ...

. A subway runs underneath the east-west segment of the street, forming an important pedestrian artery in the district.

History

Constructed in the late 19th century, Middle Road formerly ran along the coastline between

Blackhead Point Blackhead Point (), also known as Tai Pau Mai () indigenously, or by the names Tsim Sha Tsui Point and Signal Hill (), was a cape before any land reclamation took place in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong. It currently remains a small hill nea ...

and the hill where the

Former Marine Police Headquarters Compound The Former Marine Police Headquarters Compound, completed in 1884, is located in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong. From 1884 to 1996, the Compound served as the headquarters for the Marine Police, which moved to Sai Wan Ho in 1996 The compo ...

stands. Middle Road roughly aligns with the original concave coastline between these two promontories, where once there was a beach. The bay was reclaimed for the construction of the former Kowloon station of the

Kowloon–Canton Railway The Kowloon–Canton Railway (KCR; ) was a railway network in Hong Kong.Legislative Council information paper CB(1)357/07-08(0 THB(T) CR 8/986/00, CB(1)1749/07-08(0/ref> It was owned and operated by the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC ...

while the Peninsula Hotel was built on the reclamation between Kowloon station and Middle Road. In 1929, construction of the Middle Road Children's Playground began at the eastern end of Middle Road as part of a wider suite of public works improvements in the area. This site remains a playground to this day. It was entirely rebuilt in the early 1980s by the

Urban Council The Urban Council (UrbCo) was a municipal council in Hong Kong responsible for municipal services on Hong Kong Island and in Kowloon (including New Kowloon). These services were provided by the council's executive arm, the Urban Servic ...

in tandem with the development of

New World Centre The New World Centre () was a retail-hotel-residential-office complex on Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong. It housed two hotels (InterContinental Hong Kong, now closed for renovation in order to rebrand as Regent Hong Kong in 20 ...

across Salisbury Road. It was demolished after the site was taken over by

KCR Corporation The Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC; ) is a Hong Kong wholly government-owned railway and land asset manager. It was established in 1982 under the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation Ordinance for the purposes of operating the Kowloon– ...

in 2001 for the construction of

beneath it, but the playground was reprovisioned over the station and reopened on 9 May 2005. The eastern end of Middle Road was once dominated by the 10-storey Middle Road Multi-storey Car Park, which upon opening on 11January 1965 was the largest

multi-storey car park A multistorey car park (British and Singapore English) or parking garage (American English), also called a multistory, parking building, parking structure, parkade (mainly Canadian), parking ramp, parking deck or indoor parking, is a build ...

in Hong Kong. The car park stood directly over part of Middle Road, and was home to the Yau Tsim District Office before Yau Tsim and Mong Kok districts merged. In 2014, the government put the site, which was rezoned for commercial use, up for auction. The car park ceased operation in July 2014. In September 2014, it was announced that developer

Henderson Land Henderson Land Development Co. Ltd. () is a listed property developer in Hong Kong and a constituent of the Hang Seng Index. The company's principal activities are property development and investment, project management, construction, hotel oper ...

had won the site with a HK$4.7-billion bid. Henderson Land built a commercial tower called "H Zentre", which unlike the old car park is not built overtop of Middle Road. The section of road beneath the Middle Road car park was originally unnamed. In May 1987, the

(then responsible for street naming) decided to treat it as a southward extension of Middle Road, thus applying the same name to it. In the early 2000s, the Kowloon-Canton Railway was extended to a new terminus,

. To link this new station with the existing

Tsim Sha Tsui station Tsim Sha Tsui is an MTR station on the . The station, originally opened on 16 December 1979 on the , serves the area of Tsim Sha Tsui. East Tsim Sha Tsui station on the , which opened on 24 October 2004, is connected to this station by underg ...

of the MTR, an extensive pedestrian subway network was built in the area. A 250-metre-long section of subway was built beneath Middle Road, spanning between the new KCR station and the Kowloon Hotel. This subway was later extended further down Middle Road to Kowloon Park Drive, where it connected to two existing government-owned subways. Today, this subway – which runs the entire east-west length of Middle Road – forms a major underground pedestrian artery.

Features

Landmarks and adjoining roads, from West to East: * > Junction with Kowloon Park Drive * > Junction with Ashley Road * The Salisbury YMCA of Hong Kong. At the corner of Middle Road and Kowloon Park Drive * > Junction with

Hankow Road Hankow Road () is a street in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong. It runs in the north-south direction from Salisbury Road to Haiphong Road and is 370 metres in length. It was initially named Garden Road but was renamed Hankow Road after the Hubei ...

* Kowloon Hotel. At the corner of Middle Road (north side) and Nathan Road *

. Exit L4 *

The Peninsula Hong Kong The Peninsula Hong Kong is a colonial-style luxury hotel located in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong. It is the flagship property of The Peninsula Hotels group, part of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels Group. The hotel opened in 1928 and w ...

. At the corner of Middle Road (south side) and Nathan Road *

. Exit L3 * > Junction with

Nathan Road Nathan Road is the main thoroughfare in Kowloon, Hong Kong, aligned south–north from Tsim Sha Tsui to Sham Shui Po. It is lined with shops and restaurants and throngs with visitors, and was known in the post–World War II years as the Golden ...

* 26 Nathan Road. A commercial building at the corner of Middle Road (north side) and Nathan Road * Sheraton Hong Kong Hotel & Towers. At the corner of Middle Road (south side) and Nathan Road * Hermes House. A commercial building *

. Exit L1 * H Zentre. A commercial building at the former location of the Middle Road Multi-storey Car Park * > Junction with Minden Row (footpath) * Mariner's Club. At the

end of the street *

. Exit K * East Tsim Sha Tsui Station Public Transport Interchange * Middle Road Children's Playground. Elevated, on a platform over the station * > Junction with

References

{{Coord, 22.29561, 114.17205, display=title Roads in Kowloon Tsim Sha Tsui

History

Features

See also

References