CENTRAL AND WESTERN HERITAGE TRAIL (approx 4.6km) 

The Central and Western Heritage Trail is an urban trail comprising three routes which were launched at different times;

CENTRAL ROUTE – launched 1997 (approx 0.8km)
SHEUNG WAN ROUTE – launched 1999 (approx 1.6km)
WESTERN DISTRICT AND THE PEAK ROUTE – launched 2000 (approx 2.2km)

The trail was established with generous financial support from the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust and links historic buildings and sites enabling visitors to develop a better understanding of the growth and development of these districts.

TRAIL GUIDE BOOKLET AND MAP

A free booklet "Central and Western Heritage Trail Guide Map" published by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department detailing buildings and sites and with map of all three sections of the trail is usually available at the Hong Kong Heritage Discovery Centre in Kowloon Park
.
Maps and details of individual buildings/sites for each of the three sections of the trail can be viewed and downloaded here;

Central and Western Route;

http://www.amo.gov.hk/en/trails_cw.php

Sheung Wan Route;

http://www.amo.gov.hk/en/trails_sheungwan.php

Western District and the Peak Route;

http://www.amo.gov.hk/en/trails_west.php


CENTRAL ROUTE – Central District is the heart of the city which was first developed from the beginning of British rule in 1841 when Western style buildings started to appear. The trail begins at Edinburgh Place near the site of the old (now demolished) Star Ferry Pier and ends the junction of Pedder Street and Connaught Road Central where the old General Post Office once stood and covers a total of 42 historic buildings and sites. Where historic buildings have been demolished memorial stones have been erected to enable past landmarks to be identified.

CENTRAL ROUTE AND HISTORICAL BUILDINGS/SITES;

Edinburgh Place (built on reclaimed land after World War II and the location of City Hall), Statue Square (which once accommodated a statue of Queen Victoria, now relocated to Victoria Park), Cenotaph (Statue Square, erected 1923 to commemorate the dead of World War I, also commemorates the dead of World War II)

 

Cenotaph, Statue Square

Old Hong Kong Club Building (3 and 3A Jackson Road), Court of Final Appeal (Old Supreme Court and Former LEGCO Building (8 Jackson Road)

 

Old Supreme Court and Former LEGCO building (to become the Court of Final Appeal) and the Cenotaph

Commemorative Plaque for the Old Site of Cricket Club (Chater Garden, at Jackson Road entrance), Old Site of Murray House (1 Garden Road, formerly officer’s quarters of Murray Barracks, dismantled and rebuilt at Stanley), Commemorative Plaque for the Old Site of City Hall (Bank Street, on the exterior wall of HSBC building), Old Site of Murray Parade Ground (Queens Road Central), Former French Mission Building and Court of Final Appeal (1 Battery Path)

 

Entrance to Former French Mission Building and Court of Final Appeal on Battery Path

St John’s Cathedral (4-8 Garden Road, built 1849 and the oldest ecclesiastical building in Hong Kong. Open Mondays to Saturdays 7-30am to 6pm, Sundays 7-30am to 7-30pm)

 

St John's Cathedral

Flagstaff House Museum of Teaware (Hong Kong Park, Cotton Tree Drive. Oldest surviving Western building in Hong Kong and formerly residence of the Commander of British Forces. Open 10am to 5pm daily but closed on Tuesdays)

 

Flagstaff House (now Museum of Tea Ware)

Rawlinson House (Hong Kong Park, Cotton Tree Drive. Formerly residence of the Deputy Commander of British Forces), Cassels Block, Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre (Hong Kong Park, 7A Kennedy Road. Formerly part of Victoria Barracks), North and West Blocks of St Josephs College (7 Kennedy Road. Roman Catholic missionary school, these two blocks were declared monuments in 2000), The Office of the Former Chief Executive of the HKSAR (28 Kennedy Road), First Church of Christ Scientist HK (31 Macdonnell Road. Built 1912), St Paul’s Co-educational College (33 Macdonnell Road), Hong Kong Zoological & Botanical Gardens (Albany Road. Opened in 1862 and one of the largest public gardens in Hong Kong. Open 6am to 7pm daily)

 

Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens

Main Building, the Helena May (35 Garden Road. Womens club and hostel built 1916. The exterior is a declared monument), Peak Tram Terminus (33 Garden Road under St John’s Building. Open 7am to midnight daily), Government House (Upper Albert Road, completed 1855 with rich colonial characteristics and now residence of the Chief Executive of Hong Kong SAR)

 

Government House

Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (16 Caine Road. Constructed 1883-1888 in cruciform shape with imposing tower and featuring fine Gothic architecture. Open 7am to 7pm daily), Former Victoria Prison (Old Bailey Street. Opened 1841 and substantially extended before closing in 2005, now a declared monument), Former Central Magistracy (1 Arbuthnot Road. Built 1913-1914 with majestic appearance and Greek-revival style features and including pillars fronting an imposing façade. Part of Central Police Compound due for renovation and transformation into an arts, heritage, cultural and tourist hub), Central Police Station (10 Hollywood Road, built 1919 and now part of the renovation project with Former Central Magistracy, having closed in 2004)

 

Former Central Police Station, Hollywood Road

Original Site of the Heng Yan Lou Western Restaurant (2 Lyndhurst Terrace, meeting place for Dr Sun Yat-sen and his compatriots and refuge for revolutionaries), Original Site of the Zhongguo Ribao (China Daily) Office (19 Stanley Street location of commemorative plaque, office location was at 24 Stanley Street. The China Daily was established in 1900 for propaganda against the Qing government), Commemorative Plaque for Dr Jose Rizal (Century Square, 1-13 D’Aguilar Street. Highly respected Philippine physician, poet and author who ran a clinic at this site), Original Site of Hejizan (24 Wellington Street, Heijizan was a fruit store used for planning the Guangzhou uprising of 1913), Old Dairy Farm Building (2 Lower Albert Road, built 1982 and now houses the Fringe Club and Foreign Correspondents Club. Fringe Club Gallery open 12 noon to 10pm daily but closed Sundays)

 

Old Dairy Farm Building, now Fringe Club and Foreign Correspondents Club

Bishop’s House (1 Lower Albert Road, built 1848, office of the Anglican Archbishop of Hong Kong), St Paul’s Church (Glenealy, built early 20th century with Gothic style spire), Duddell Street Steps and Gas Lamps (the only four remaining gas lamps still in use in Hong Kong. The granite steps were built between 1875 and 1889)

 

Duddell Street Steps and Gas Lamps

Old Site of the Pedder Street Clock Tower (junction of Queens Road Central and Pedder Street, former landmark built 1861 and demolished in 1913), Pedder Building (12 Pedder Street, built 1924 and now housing shops and offices), Commemorative Plaque for the Original Waterfront in 1841 (Pedder Street, on the exterior wall of The Landmark marks the original waterfront before praya reclamation), Commemorative Plaque for the Praya Reclamation of 1843-1865 (Pedder Street on the exterior wall of Chater House)

 

Commemorative Plaque for 1843-1865 reclamation

Commemorative Plaque for the Praya Reclamation of 1890-1904 (on footbridge linking Connaught Road Central near Chater House), Old Site of the General Post Office (junction of Pedder Street and Connaught Road Central at the site of the present World Wide House. Opened 1911 and demolished during the 1970’s).


SHEUNG WAN ROUTE – Sheung Wan District is a traditional Chinese residential and commercial district on the northern coast of Hong Kong Island. It was the area where Dr Sun Yat-sen was educated and planned for the revolution with his comrades. The route covers 35 historic buildings and sites including the Dr Sun Yat-sen Museum and sites on the Dr Sun Yat-sen Historical Trail, traditional Chinese buildings and various religious buildings.

SHEUNG WAN ROUTE HISTORICAL BUILDINGS/SITES;

Old Site of the Central Fire Station (83 Des Voeux Road Central. Located here from 1926 to 1982 then demolished after relocation. Hang Seng Bank HQ now stands on the site) Central Market (80 Des Voeux Road Central. Built 1895 then rebuilt in Bauhaus style in 1938/39. Closed 2003 and now under renovation and revitalisation as an “urban oasis”)

 

Central Market, closed 2003 and seen undergoing"revitalisation"

Pottinger Street (“Stone Slab Street”, steep uneven street paved with stone slabs to allow rainwater to flow down both sides and make walking easier. Named after Hong Kong’s first governor in 1858), Original Site of Xingzhonghui (Revive China Society) Hong Kong Headquarters (commemorative plaque 15 Staunton Street. HQ of Dr Sun Yat-sen’s revolutionary organisation), Jamia Mosque (30 Shelley Street, built 1849 and the first mosque in Hong Kong), Ohel Leah Synagogue (70 Robinson Road, built 1902, Eastern Jewish style building renovated in 1998), London Mission Building (78-80 Robinson Road, built 1893 as quarters for missionaries of the London Mission, later used as nurses quarters, now a clubhouse), Kom Tong Hall (7 Castle Road, built 1914 and splendidly preserved, formerly the residence of Ho Kom Tong, a wealthy merchant subsequently sold to the Church of Jesus Christ Latter-Day Saints and since 2006 the Dr Sun Yat-sen Museum, (open 10am to 6pm and to 7pm on Sundays and public holidays, closed on Thursdays)

Kom Tong Hall, now Dr Sun Yat-sen Museum

Original Site of the Daoji Mission House (75 Hollywood Road, the mission house was built 1888 and was the venue for religious gatherings attended by Dr Sun Yat-sen), Original Site of the Alice Memorial Hospital and Hong Kong College of Medicine (81 Hollywood Road. Dr Sun Yat-sen graduated from the college in 1892), Original Site of Furen Literary Society (1 Pak Tsz Lane, meeting place for revolutionaries. The entrance still remains), Site of the School where Yang Quyun was murdered (52 Gage Street, revolutionary assassinated in 1901 by spy sent by the Qing government), Original Site of Yang Yao Ji –meeting place for “The Four Bandits”, (24 Gough Street, commemorative plate. Meeting place for Dr Sun Yat-sen and his three co-revolutionaries), Commemorative Plate for Dr James Legge (44 Gough Street, Dr Legge was a Scot who came to Hong Kong in 1842 to set up an office of the London Mission and Ying Wa College to teach English learning among the Chinese), Original Site of Central School (44 Gough Street, founded 1862. Dr Sun Yat-sen studied there from 1884 to 1886), Original Site of Queen’s College (Shing Wong Street, location of commemorative plate, originally Central School, renamed Queen’s College in 1894 but destroyed during Japanese invasion in 1941), Original Site of American Congregational Mission Preaching House (2 Bridges Street. Dr Sun Yat-sen lived on the third floor whilst studying at Central School. The building was subsequently converted to a market), Man Mo Temple (124-130 Hollywood Road, built 1847 as a worshipping centre for Chinese merchants and residents in Central and Sheung Wan Districts. Now managed by Tung Wah Group of Hospitals. Open 8am to 6pm daily)

 

Man Mo Temple

Chinese YMCA of Hong Kong (51 Bridges Street, built 1918 as a youth club to cater for rising membership numbers), Old Pathological Institute (2 Caine Lane, built 1906 and moved to a new site in 1972. Since 1996 has housed the Hong Kong Museum of Medical Sciences)

Old Pathological Institute, now Hong Kong Museum of Medical Sciences

Old Site of the Police Officers’ Quarters – Caine Road (150-156 Caine Road, built 1920 for senior police officers, now a park), Hop Yat Church (2 Bonham Road, built 1926 in Neo-gothic style by Daoji Mission), One of the Original Sites of Tongmenghui (United League) Reception Centre, (Kui In Fong, location of commemorative plaque, one of several reception centres set up in residential areas as accommodation centres for revolutionary exiles), Commemorative Plaque for the Outbreak of Bubonic Plague in 1894 (Blake Garden, Tai Ping Shan Street. Marks the worst plague-stricken area. The government bought and demolished the buildings), Kwong Fook I Tsz (40 Tai Ping Shan Street, also known as “Pak Shing Temple” built 1850 and main hall remains dedicated to Kshitigarbha Buddha with rear hall accommodating ancestral tablets of Mainland Chinese who died in Hong Kong after moving to the territory to make a new living), Tai Ping Shan Street (once a lawless area but order was restored after barracks and police station established. Tai Ping Shan denotes “peace and good order”), Tung Wah Hospital (12 Po Yan Street, built 1872 the name “Tung Wah” denotes “the Chinese people of Guangdong Province” and the hospital was established to treat poor sick Chinese), Hollywood Road (built 1844 for the British Army attached there. Named after holly woods along the road), Old Site of Possession Point (Hollywood Road Park, named by British soldiers who landed there in 1841)



Old Site of Possession Point, Hollywood Road Park

Old Site of Tai Tat Tei (Hollywood Road Park, location of British barracks after landing in 1841, became a market known as “Tai Tat Tei”), Old Site of Ko Shing Theatre (Queens Road West, built 1890 as a two-storey theatre and renowned for many famous performances during Hong Kong’s development. Demolished 1973), Bonham Strand (built 1851 by redeveloping the stone waterfront beach in Sheung Wan and housed many shops operated by merchants from Guangzhou, Chaozhou, Fujian and Shanghai), Old Site of the Nam Pak Hong Union (Bonham Strand West, founded 1868 by merchants, the union imposed strict ethics on its members and played a role in maintaining law and order), Old Site of Western Market South Block Sheung Wan Complex (354 Queen’s Road Central, built 1858, a further block North Block was built in 1906 to meet demand. South Block was replaced by Sheung Wan Complex in 1981), Western Market North Block (323 Des Voeux Road Central, built 1906 but ceased operating as a market in 1989. The North Block has been renovated and reopened in 1991 as the current Western Market as a tourist attraction selling fabrics, souvenirs, jewellery, toys and other goods. Open 10am to midnight daily)

 

Western Market


WESTERN DISTRICT AND PEAK ROUTE – Western District comprises three small districts namely Sai Ying Pun, Shek Tong Tsui and Kennedy Town. The first inhabitants of Western District were British troops followed by Chinese refugees who fled to Hong Kong after 1850. Following construction of the Peak Tram in 1888 people moved to live in the Peak area. The summer residence of the governor was also built at Victoria Peak. The route covers 25 historical buildings and sites;

WESTERN DISTRICT ROUTE HISTORICAL BUILDINGS/SITES;

Peak Tram Terminus (33 Garden Road. The original lower terminus was built 1888 but demolished and replaced by the present one under St John’s Building in the early 1980’s. Open 7am to midnight daily), Peak Café (121 Peak Road, built 1901 as a chair shelter for public and private sedan chairs. The building has since been altered and refurbished and was converted into a café in 1947), Gate Lodge of the Former Mountain Lodge (Mount Austin Road, built 1900/1902. The Mountain Lodge which was the Governors summer residence was badly damaged during World War II and demolished in 1946 but the Gate Lodge still survives)

 

Gate Lodge of Former Mountain Lodge

Old Site of the Mountain Lodge (Mount Austin Road, built 1892 as the Governor’s summer residence but little used after the 1920’s and demolished after World War II. The site has been declared of archaeological importance and is cordoned off from the public although Victoria Peak Garden, a large and attrctive garden surrounding the lodge is open to the public), Lugard Road (part of the popular circular Lugard Road/Harlech Road walk, has interesting private houses in a range of styles from Scottish Baronial to Art Deco and Bauhaus), Pinewood Battery (Hatton Road, constructed 1903 on a hill at 307m and equipped with two six-inch guns to defend the harbour. These guns were later removed and anti-aircraft guns were installed. The battery suffered major damage during Japanese attacks in 1941 and was subsequently abandoned. The remnants of some of the defences remain and the site is now a picnic area)

 

Some of the remains of Pinewood Battery

Boundary Stone, City of Victoria (Hatton Road, about 400m from Kotewall Road end, one of six boundary stones to mark the limits of the City of Victoria and inscribed “City Boundary 1903)

 

City Boundary Stone, Hatton Road

Stone House (15 Kotewall Road, built c1923 and last surviving example of several fine coach houses inhabited by wealthy families with mansions in the area), Old Halls, University of Hong Kong (Pok Fu Lam Road, built 1914 and 1915, the oldest surviving structures on the university campus. An earlier hall built in 1913 was demolished in 1991), Main Building, the University of Hong Kong (Pok Fu Lam Road, built 1910/1912, a gift from Sir H.N Mody. Originally two courtyards in Post-Renaisannce Style in red brick and granite, two further courtyards were added in 1952. Now houses various departments of the Faculty of Arts. Declared a monument 1984, Hung Hing Ying Building, the University of Hong Kong (Bonham Road, built 1919, a two-storey Edwardian Style building in red brick and with a central dome. Originally the student union, now houses the Department of Music. Declared a monument in 1995), Staff Quarters of the Elliot Treatment Works (77 Pok Fu Lam Road, built early 20th century, the works treated raw sewage from Pok Fu Lam Reservoir. Decommissioned in 1993 and most of the other buildings have since been demolished), Former Fung Ping Shan Museum (94 Bonham Road, built 1932 as a library for Chinese books. In 1962 the collection was transferred to the University library and the building is now the University Museum and Art Gallery), Tang Chi Ngong Building, the University of Hong Kong (Pok Fu Lam Road, built 1929/1931 as a school of Chinese at the university, a three-storey flat-roofed building surfaced with Shanghai plaster, now the Centre of Asian Studies), King’s College (63A Bonham Road, built 1923/1926 in red brick around a square with central courtyard and fountain. Main entrance has a circular porch with ionic columns. The building was severely damaged during the Japanese Occupation and a major reconstruction took place), Kau Yan Church (97A High Street, built 1932 by the Tsung Tsin Mission in Gothic Revival Style with pointed arches and applied buttresses), Old Tsan Yuk Maternity Hospital (built 1922 as Tsan Yuk Maternity Hospital and subsequently used as a teaching and practice hospital by the university. The hospital was relocated after World War II and the building became Tsan Yuk Social Service Centre and since 1973, Western District Community Centre), Main Building of St Stephen’s Girls’ College (2 Lyttelton Road, built 1924 with East Wing added 1929, converted to an emergency hospital in World War II. Used by the Japanese as a secret espionage training centre. Reopened in 1945 and declared a monument in 1992), Old Site of Diocesan Boys’ School (Eastern Street, founded 1869 by the Anglican Church as a boarding school for students of different nationalities including Dr Sun Yat-sen. The school moved to Kowloon in 1926 and the site is currently Bonham Road Government Primary School), Old Lunatic Asylum Chinese Block (45 Eastern Street, a red brick and granite structure designed in Renaissance Classical Revival Style. Opened 1891 as a lunatic asylum for Chinese patients and now a methadone treatment clinic), Old Mental Hospital (2 High Street, the hospital was built 1892 as quarters for foreign nursing staff of the Civil Hospital. The building had an imposing granite façade with arched verandahs and huge retaining walls under a pitched tiled roof. Converted to a mental hospital after World War II. The building was vacated in 1971 but the façade was retained and a new community centre, Sai Ying Pun Community Complex Community Hall, was built within the walls)

 

Old Mental Hospital, now a community centre

Upper Levels Police Station (1F High Street, built 1928, demolished and rebuilt 1935, a five-storey building used as the Crime Hong Kong Island Regional Headquarters), St Louis School (179 Third Street, East Wing built in 1927 by the Salesian Fathers, with the North, West and Central wings built later in Art Deco Style. The school has been an English grammar school since 1948), Ex-Western Fire Station (12 Belcher’s Street, four-storey brick building with symmetrical façade and louvered windows. Built 1923 by the Sanitary Department, a small part of the building was used as a temporary fire sub-station before becoming Western Fire Station in 1937, Ceased to be a fire station before 1950 and now Po Leung Kuk Chan Au Big Yan Home for the Elderly

 

Ex-Western Fire Station, now a home for the elderly

Fok Hing Tong, Hong Kong Society for the Promotion of Virtue (8-9 Tai Pak Terrace, the society was established next door in 1924 and moved to 8-9 Tai Pak Terrace in 1927. Five-storey house with balconies enclosed with intricate iron railings. The society is inspired by Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism and promotes the study of ethics and virtues), Lo Pan Temple (15 Ching Lin Terrace, built 1884 to worship Lo Pan, the Patron Saint of Chinese Builders and Contractors. His festival falls on the 13th of the sixth month of the Lunar calendar. The temple is of “two courtyards and three halls” type with elaborate “fire” type parapet walls, sculptures, relieves and paintings. Now managed by Kwong Yuet Tong, temple management company).

 

Lo Pan Temple on Chin Lin Terrace


GETTING THERE

The beginning of the trail at Edinburgh Place is about 5 minutes walk from exit F of Central MTR Station and about 8 minutes walk from Star Ferry Piers (Central Piers 7 and 8). Trams run along Des Voeux Road Central and passengers can disembark at Statue Square, about 5 minutes walk from the start of the trail. Citybus service 13 (Kotewall Road – City Hall) terminates at Edinburgh Place and most other bus routes serving Central District have stops within walking distance of the start of the trail. To return to Central from the end of the trail at Ching Ling Terrace there is the option of taking any of several bus routes from Pok Fu Lam Road or Kennedy Town Praya which is also served by trams.