Bank of China Building / Central House / Kai Ming Building [1921-1980]

Submitted by Admin on Fri, 06/14/2013 - 17:09

Current condition

Demolished / No longer exists

Date completed

1 Jan 1921

Date closed / demolished

1 Jan 1980

Building on western corner of Duddell Street / Queen's Road Central (QRC) junction. When it was built this site was 4, QRC. In the 1960s the road was re-numbered and this site's address changed to 10, QRC.

Previous place(s) at this location

Building on western corner of Duddell Street / Queen's Road Central junction [1878-1919]

Photos that show this Place

1920s Junction of Queen's Road C and Ice House Street

1925

1930s

Junction of Queen's Road Central and Duddell Street

1941

See more photos of this place

Comments

It's the first building on

It's the first building on the left in this photo:

Any information welcome.

Regards, David

Re: Building

On a 1959 BOAC Street Map of Central, it is listed as Central House.

Central House

I did a search on its old address, 4 Queen's Road Central, (view online) that turns up some more names:

1913 - Cheong Lee, Furniture
1925 - China Bank Building
1963, 1964 - Central House
1994 - Beaconsfield House

I'll guess that the 1913 name refers to an earlier building on this site, and the 1994 name refers to a different site after the road was re-numbered. So maybe this was originally the China Bank Building, before they moved to the building next to HSBC post-WW2.

Re: 4 and 6 Queen's Road Central

HKGRO PWD Annual Reports

The previous building at 4 Queens Road Central was demolished in 1919 with a new one erected in 1921. It appears to have been known as the Bank of China Building.

The building at 6 Queen's Road Central was completed in 1922.

Thanks Moddsey, I've added in

Thanks Moddsey, I've added in the completion date, and made a guess at 1980 for the demolition date, based on the next building on this site.

Please can you give a link to, or name of the HKGRO document you found this in?

Regards, David

Another name change

Thanks to Alan for pointing out that in the 1960s, maps show this as "Kai Ming Building", eg: http://gwulo.com/atom/12699

Regards, David

Central House & Kai Ming Building

First I thought these were two names for the same building, but a post on Uwants (thanks to Jessica for the link) shows them as adjacent buildings: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10204712365182434&set=p.1020471…

This 1959 map agrees, and also shows them as adjacent buildings, numbers 4 and 6 QRC:

But then this 1960s map confuses things:

It shows the outline of two buildings, but just a single name and number: "Kai Ming Building HK-60". I'm not sure if the two buildings were combined into one around then, or if it is just careless numbering on the map. Does anyone remember the Central House name lasting into the 1960s?

Regards, David