Hopewell Centre (Hong Kong) Explained

Hopewell Centre
Native Name:合和中心
Native Name Lang:zh-hant
Address:183 Queen's Road East
Location Town:Wan Chai
Location Country:Hong Kong
Coordinates:22.2745°N 114.1716°W
Status:Complete
Building Type:Commercial offices
Roof:2221NaN1
Floor Count:64
Floor Area:111000m2
Architect:Gordon Wu, WMKY Limited
Structural Engineer:Ove Arup & Partners
References:[1]

Hopewell Centre is a 222m (728feet), 64-storey skyscraper at 183 Queen's Road East, in Wan Chai, Hong Kong Island in Hong Kong. The tower is the first circular skyscraper in Hong Kong. It is named after Hong Kong–listed property firm Hopewell Holdings Limited, which constructed the building. Hopewell Holdings Limited's headquarters are in the building and its chief executive officer, Gordon Wu, has his office on the top floor.

Description

Construction started in 1977 and was completed in 1980. Upon completion, Hopewell Centre surpassed Jardine House as Hong Kong's tallest building. It was also the second tallest building in Asia at the time. It kept its title in Hong Kong until 1989, when the Bank of China Tower was completed. The building is now the 20th tallest building in Hong Kong.

The building has a circular floor plan. Although the front entrance is on the 'ground floor', commuters are taken through a set of escalators to the 3rd floor lift lobby. Hopewell Centre stands on the slope of a hill so steep that the building has its back entrance on the 17th floor towards Kennedy Road. There is a circular private swimming pool on the roof of the building built for feng shui reasons because people thought the building resembled a cigarette.[2]

A revolving restaurant located on the 62nd floor, called "Revolving 66", overlooks other tall buildings below and the harbour. It was originally called Revolving 62, but soon changed its name as locals kept calling it Revolving 66. It completes a 360-degree rotation each hour. Passengers take either office lifts (faster) or the scenic lifts (with a view) to the 56/F, where they transfer to smaller lifts up to the 62/F. The restaurant is now named The Grand Buffet.

The building comprises several groups of lifts. Lobbies are on the 3rd and 17th floor, and are connected to Queen's Road East and Kennedy Road respectively. A mini-skylobby is on the 56th floor and serves as a transfer floor for diners heading to the 60/F and 62/F restaurants. The building's white 'bumps' between the windows have built in window-washer guide rails.

This skyscraper was the filming location for R&B group Dru Hill's music video for "How Deep Is Your Love," directed by Brett Ratner, who also directed the movie Rush Hour, whose soundtrack features the song. The circular private swimming pool is well visible in this music video. This swimming pool has also featured in an Australian television advertisement by one of that country's major gaming companies, Tattersall's Limited, promoting a weekly lottery competition.

The skyscraper was also featured on the cover of post-hardcore band Fugazi's 1998 album End Hits.

Floors

Note 1: People going to floors 59, 60, 62-64 must transfer to different lifts on floor 56 to get there.

Note 2: There are two cargo lifts in the building going from the 2nd to the 58th and 61st floors.

Access

Gallery


Privatisation

Hopewell shares shot up 31 per cent at one point, after the developer unveiled a privatisation plan worth HK$21.26 billion. The company was privatised in 2019 and its stock ticker 54 was removed from the exchange.

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Emporis building ID 121026 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160422100919/https://www.emporis.com/buildings/121026 . dead . 22 April 2016 . Emporis.
  2. Web site: What's the History of the Hopewell Centre?. 20 August 2015.
  3. Web site: 香港灣仔合和城大酒樓霓虹招牌照片 ([1970至1980年代]) - 南華霓虹燈電器廠有限公司 藏品 M+ ]. 2024-08-04 . www.mplus.org.hk . zh-Hant.