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7/6/2004

The Central Business District

University Museum and Art Gallery - UMAG, Hong Kong

Historical perspectives

This exhibition is jointly presented by the University Museum and Art Gallery, HKU and the University's Centre of Urban Planning and Environmental Management (CUPEM) to coincide with a one-day conference taking place on 9 June, entitled, Planning the Central Business District: comparative and historical perspectives, sponsored by Hongkong Land Limited.

Featuring mainly historical photographs, this exhibition will show the extraordinary rise of the Central Business District from the 1840s to the present-day. Hong Kong's Central district was established as the centre of administrative and mercantile life in Hong Kong, a function that it continues to perform to this day. As the importance of Hong Kong as an entrepôt grew, so did its population increasing pressure on Central's most precious resource: land. By tracing the history of Central, this exhibition shows that reclamation, notably the Praya Reclamation scheme of 1890-1904, was the most effective solution to this problem. It also encouraged the continual re-development of a single plot of land with successive generations of buildings. Central continues to soar, its growth reflecting that of Hong Kong and her people. The exhibition will also include a number of maps, models and historical paintings to elucidate this theme.

The exhibition preview will take place at the Museum on 8 June 2004 at 6:00 pm. Sir Peter Hall, Director of the Institute of Community Studies and Professor of Planning, Bartlett School of Architecture and Planning, University College London; Nicholas Sallnow-Smith, Chief Executive of Hongkong Land Limited; and Professor Lap-Chee Tsui, Vice-Chancellor of The University of Hong Kong will be the officiating guests.

Photo caption:
Queen's Building, c. 1950s. When it was completed in 1899, Queen's Building was Hong Kong's most prestigious building. It was designed by the architects Leigh and Orange and with the introduction of electricity in 1890, it benefitted from technological innovations such as in-built ceiling fans. Queen's Building was demolished in 1959 and the site was re-developed as the Mandarin Hotel which opened in 1963. Behind is the third Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank Building designed by Palmer and Turner and completed in 1935. It was the tallest building at 220 feet in Asia and was fully air-conditioned. Next to it is the Bank of China Building completed in 1950.

University Museum and Art Gallery
The University of Hong Kong - 94 Bonham Road, Pokfulam
Hong Kong

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