Current condition
Demolished / No longer exists
Date completed
Date closed / demolished
(Day & Month are approximate.)
Address: 4 Middle Road. Notable Restaurants: Caliph Room, Sung Lounge and Dynasty Room. There was also the Coffee Shop, Lobby Bar, Cellar Bar and The Point After (Cocktail Lounge).
A giant mosaic measuring 143 feet long and 15 feet wide was put up on the side of the hotel facing Nathan Road.
Closed down in 1994. See: https://www.hkha.org/60th/photo-gallery-hotel/
Previous place(s) at this location
Photos that show this Place
1961
1962
1962
Comments
Added completion date of
Added completion date of 1960:
Near the railway station and close to the more traditional Peninsula Hotel rises the elegant Ambassador Hotel. It stands to the right, at the beginning of Nathan Road, and was opened in 1960; on its right is the block of Far East ...
From Google Books
1960s Ambassador Hotel Barber Shop Prices
The Ambassador Hotel's Barber Shop Price List is reproduced below for reference:
Hair Cut $4 Shave $3 Shampoo $3 Cream Shampoo $4
Set $5.50 Bleach $25/45 Tint $25/45 Facial $10
Eyebrow Arch $3 Manicure $4 Pedicure $9 Massage $10
Source: 1960s Guidebook of the Hong Kong Hotels' Association
Closed by 1997
This article https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/2083173/six-luxur… dates the new building on the site (then called "Oterprise Square", now just "26 Nathan Road") to 1998. But construction on the new building was already under way in 1997, so the Ambassador had closed by then.
Re: Amabassador Hotel
Thanks Dave. I noted the new building, "Oterprise Square/26 Nathan Road" was designed in 1993. The Hong Kong Hotels Association photo website at: https://www.hkha.org/60th/photo-gallery-hotel/ gives 1994 as the end date of the Ambassador Hotel. I have selected the latter for the time being.
That makes sense. The same…
That makes sense. The same SCMP article dates the sale of the hotel to the new developer (Stelux Holdings, owner of the "City Chain" watch shops, and HK's Seiko distributor) to 1994, and says "Shortly after the purchase, the top floor of the Ambassador became engulfed in fire, scattering scaffolding and debris onto Nathan Road".
That fire happened on 28 June 1995, per the caption on this photo https://www.gettyimages.in/detail/news-photo/tsim-sha-tsui-ambassador-h… which shows the hotel already surrounded by scaffolding and hoardings. So the hotel closed before that.
The 2002 book "The City in Architecture" by Rocco Design, architects of Oterprise Square, says "Designed 1993, Completed 1997" about the project, which agrees with your design date.