Hopewell Centre, Hong Kong

Hopewell Centre
合和中心

Hopewell Centre and the ruins of an old mansion in the foreground
General information
Type Office, restaurant, retail
Location Hong Kong, China
Coordinates
Construction started 1977
Completed 1980
Height
Roof 216.0 m (708.7 ft)
Technical details
Floor count 64
Design and construction
Architect Gordon Wu
References
[1]

Hopewell Centre is a skyscraper in Hong Kong. It is located at 183 Queen's Road East, in Wan Chai on Hong Kong Island. It 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 and is headquartered in the building and its Chief executive officer, Gordon Wu, has his office on the top floor of the building.

Contents

Description

The 64-storey building is 216 metres (709 feet) tall. 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 uses 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 elevator lobby. Hopewell Center 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.

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 elevators (faster) or the scenic elevators (with a view) to the 56/F, where they transfer to smaller elevators up to the 62/F.

The building comprises several groups of elevators. 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.

Access

See also

External links

References

Preceded by
Jardine House
Tallest Building in Hong Kong
1980 – 1989
Succeeded by
Bank of China Tower