The story behind Hong Kong’s famous Queen’s Road: named after Queen Victoria, the city’s oldest street became a shopping hub after a 17-hour fire destroyed the area on Christmas Day
At 178 years old, Queen’s Road is Hong Kong’s oldest street, built by the British Royal Engineers from 1841 to 1843, soon after the territory first came under British control.
Originally 6.4km long, it stretched from Shek Tong Tsui to Wan Chai, an area then known as Victoria City. In places it tracked the original shore line, as it was before extensive reclamation began.
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What’s in a name?
Its original name was Main Street – a bit boring, but thankfully it was changed to Queen’s Road after Queen Victoria. Unfortunately the Chinese translation came out as “queen consort” – ouch!
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How it all started
In the 1840s, Queen’s Road was lined with squatter huts, military camps, taverns and the first Christian churches.
On Christmas Day in 1878, a fire broke out and raged for 17 hours destroying the squatter huts and other buildings along Queen’s Road and the surrounding area, leaving 400 people homeless. The rebuild paved the way for the Central we know today, with more expensive homes and commercial buildings being erected.
Back then, Queen’s Road was Hong Kong’s first shopping hub, and was also the city’s main trading and services centre.
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Sincere department store opened its first location at 172 Queen’s Road in 1900, and was the city’s first Western-style department store. The original building is still there today.
Sincere was the first store in China to use Western practices such as employing female shop assistants, using fixed prices and issuing receipts. Founder Ma Ying-piu’s wife and two sister-in-laws even worked on the shop floor at the Shanghai store they opened some years later.
Another original building close to Queen’s Road, dating from 1842, is the red brick one on what is now Battery Path, above Queen’s Road Central. Known as the Former French Mission Building, it more recently housed the Court of Final Appeal until 2015. It was built however as a then-beachfront home for the first Governors of Hong Kong: Sir Henry Pottinger, and his successor, John Francis Davis, lived there.
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The rise of the entertainment scene
Queen’s Road Central and its nearby streets have long been popular entertainment hubs, starting in the early 1900s.
One of the city’s most famous cinemas was Queen’s Theatre on the corner of Theatre Lane. It opened in 1924, seated 1,200 and showed early silent films with local musicians playing the soundtracks live. The first building was demolished in the late 1950s and was replaced by a second Queen’s Theatre, which opened in July 1961, seating 902 with stalls and a circle level. In 1995, the theatre was divided, with the stalls area becoming retail space, and the circle level becoming a smaller 303-seater cinema. It was completely closed down in 2007 and demolished the following year.
King’s Theatre was built in 1931. It was the first cinema in Hong Kong to install air conditioning. The original theatre closed in 1962 and it was rebuilt bigger and better, with the building including shopping and office spaces. This building was demolished in 1990.
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Queen’s Road today
These days Queen’s Road is made up of four sections: Queen’s Road West, Queen’s Road Central, Queensway and Queen’s Road East. Though it no longer runs along the waterfront, it remains a key commercial thoroughfare, lined with shops and office buildings.
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- First Governor of Hong Kong, Sir Henry Pottinger, had a house built where his successor John Francis Davis lived too – it was also the Court of Final Appeal
- Queen’s Theatre opened at the popular shopping and entertainment street, followed by King’s Theatre, the first cinema in Hong Kong with air conditioning