HSBC Main Building is a headquarters building of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, which is today a wholly owned subsidiary of London-based HSBC Holdings. It is located on the southern side of Statue Square near the location of the old City Hall, Hong Kong (built in 1869, demolished in 1933). The previous HSBC building was built in 1935 and pulled down to make way for the current building. The address remains as 1 Queen's Road Central (the north facing side of the building was served by Des Voeux Road Central, which was the seashore, making Queen's Road the main entrance, in contrast to the current primary access coming from Des Voeux Road).
History
First building
The first HSBC (then known as the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Company Limited) building was Wardley House, used as an HSBC office between 1865 and 1882 on the present site. In 1864 the lease cost HKD 500 a month. After raising a capital of HKD 5 million, the bank opened its doors in 1865.
Second building
Wardley House was subsequently demolished and replaced by a second HSBC building that was completed in 1886. The main feature of the second building design was the division of the structure into two almost separate buildings. The building on Queen's Road Central was in Victorian style with a verandah, colonnades and an octagonal dome, whereas an arcade which harmonised with the adjacent buildings was constructed on Des Voeux Road. It was designed by Clement Palmer in 1883.
Third building
In 1934, the second building was demolished and a third design was erected. The new building opened in October 1935. Upon completion, the building stood as the tallest building in Hong Kong and "the largest building in the Far East", "the tallest structure in South East Asia", and "tallest building between Cairo and San Francisco". The third design used part of the land of the old City Hall, and was built in a mixed Art Deco and Stripped Classical style. During the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong between 1941 and 1945, the building served as the government headquarters. It was the first building in Asia to be fully air-conditioned. By the 1970s, the bank had outgrown its headquarters; departments were scattered into offices all over Central, and it was obvious that such a "solution" to the space limitations could not continue indefinitely. In 1978, the bank decided to replace it with a new building intended to symbolize the bank’s modernization and the city’s increasing prominence in global finance. Construction began in 1981 and concluded in 1985.
Current building
The current building is a steel suspended structure designed by Norman Foster, was finished on 18 November 1985. At the time, it was the most expensive building in the world (c.a. HK$5.2 billion, roughly US$668 million). The decision to replace the previous headquarters marked the bank's goals for modernization and role in growth as a financial center.
The first major addition to the building, designed by Hong Kong's One Space Ltd, was completed on 23 November 2006, in the form of a ground floor lobby that improves security access to the upper floors and creates a prestigious reception area. Its design and construction included the installation of the "Asian Story Wall", a multimedia installation consisting of twin banks of 30 seamless plasma screens (the largest installation of its kind in Hong Kong) displaying archived bank heritage and artworks.
The atrium of the HSBC building was the site of the Occupy Hong Kong protests which maintained a presence in the building from 15 October 2011 until their eviction in September 2012.
Design
The new building was designed by the British architect Norman Foster and civil & structural engineers Ove Arup & Partners with service design by J. Roger Preston & Partners. It was constructed by the John Lok / Wimpey Joint Venture. From the concept to completion, it took seven years (1978–1985). The building is 180 metres high with 47 storeys and four basement levels. The building has a modular design consisting of five steel modules, which were prefabricated in the UK by Scott Lithgow Shipbuilders near Glasgow and shipped to Hong Kong. About 30,000 tons of steel and 4,500 tons of aluminium were used.
The HSBC Building is an example of high-tech architecture, with its modular design allowing for rapid on-site assembly. This approach enabled large open interior spaces and aligned with the principles of high-tech design, emphasizing exposed systems and functionality.
The original design was heavily inspired by the Douglas Gilling designed Qantas International Centre in Sydney (currently known as Suncorp Place).
The new lobby and its two-part Asian Story Wall were designed by Greg Pearce, of One Space Limited. Pearce was also the Principal Architect of the Hong KongAirport Express (MTR) station. Conceived as a minimalist glass envelope, the new lobby is designed to be deferential to Foster's structure and appears almost to be part of the original.
The building was designed to not have lifts as the primary carrier of building traffic. The lifts only stop every few floors at atriums, groups of floors which are divided for specific functions. The floors are interconnected by escalators. The goal of this design is to add a social dimension and social flow to each floor, allowing for conversations to occur between floors and creating "a village in the sky". This was to shift away from the social isolation of each floor which is present with central lift systems.
Structural features
Atrium
The main characteristic of HSBC's Hong Kong headquarters is its absence of internal supporting structure. The inverted 'va' segments of the suspension trusses spanning the construction at double-height levels is the most obvious characteristic of the building. It consists of eight groups of four aluminium-clad steel columns which ascend from the foundations up through the core structure, and five levels of triangular suspension trusses which are locked into these masts.
A corrosion protection system is present because of Hong Kong's hot and humid climate. It introduces cementitious barrier coating, this process uses a special cement blend which takes humidity and increases corrosion protection rather than corroding the cladding and steel.
All flooring is made from lightweight movable panels, under which lies a comprehensive network of power, telecommunication, and air-conditioning systems. This design was to allow equipment such as computer terminals to be installed quickly and easily. Because of the urgency to finish the project, the construction of the building relied heavily on off-site prefabrication; components were manufactured all over the world. For example, the structural steel came from Britain; the glass, aluminium cladding and flooring came from the United States while the service modules came from Japan.
Environmental Features
A notable feature is that natural sunlight is the major source of lighting inside the building. There is a mirror system at the top of the atrium, which reflects natural sunlight into the building. Through the use of natural sunlight, this design helps to conserve energy and reduces energy consumption.The sun shades are provided on the external facades to block direct sunlight going into the building and to reduce heat gain.The building’s cooling system relies on seawater rather than fresh water, a solution that minimizes environmental impact in the coastal city of Hong Kong. These features, integrated seamlessly into the high-tech design and sustainable architecture.
The building was also designed to comply with safety regulations concerning typhoons and ability to shelter the public plaza on the ground floor level.
Cultural and Symbolic Context
The HSBC Building is more than a functional headquarters; it is a symbol of Hong Kong’s role as a financial powerhouse. The building’s design was intended to convey openness and innovation, aligning with the city’s rapid modernization in the 1980s. Its prominent location on Statue Square and its alignment with Victoria Harbour reflect its integration into Hong Kong’s cultural and urban identity. Today, the building remains an architectural representation of the city’s global financial influence.
Feng shui
HSBC installed two "cannons" on the roof, pointing directly at the Bank of China Tower, allegedly to balance the negative feng shui energy directed at it.
The early British settlers in Hong Kong had an interest in feng shui; thus, most of the earliest buildings in Hong Kong, and many buildings constructed thereafter, were built with the philosophies of feng shui in mind. The Chinese believe that those who have a direct view of a body of water—whether it is a river, a sea, or an ocean—are more likely to prosper than those who do not (water is strongly associated with wealth in feng shui). The HSBC building has a wide open area (the Statue Square) in front of it, with no other buildings blocking its view of Victoria Harbour; thus, it is considered to have "good feng shui".
In the CBC Television series Doc Zone episode "Superstitious Minds", Writer, Researcher & Associate Producer Tom Puchniak asserts that the design of the nearby Bank of China Tower ignored feng shui principles, and created instant controversy by evoking two knife edges, one pointing towards the British Government House, another towards the HSBC building. After the Bank of China building opened, a series of mishaps occurred, including the death of the Governor, and a downturn in the city's economy. It is alleged that HSBC installed two maintenance cranes on the roof, pointing directly at the Bank of China, to defend against the negative energy from the Bank of China building. According to feng shui master Paul Hung, this solved the problem, and HSBC experienced "no harmful results after that."
When HSBC decided to build its third headquarters at 1 Queen's Road Central, opened in 1935, it commissioned two bronze lions from Shanghai-based British sculptor W. W. Wagstaff. This commission was inspired by two earlier lions that had been ordered for the new Shanghai office opened in 1923. Cast by J W Singer & Sons in the English town of Frome, to a design by Henry Poole RA, these lions had quickly become part of the Shanghai scene, and passers-by would affectionately stroke the lions in the belief that power and money would rub off on them. They became known as Stephen and Stitt: Stephen was named for A. G. Stephen, the Chief Manager of HSBC in 1923, and G. H. Stitt, the then Shanghai Manager. Stephen is depicted roaring and Stitt is at rest, which was said to represent the characters of these two famous bankers.
Like the Shanghai lions, the Hong Kong lions became objects of veneration, and foci of the Bank's perceived excellent feng shui. People are known to still bring their children to stroke the paws and noses of the statues hoping for luck and prosperity.
During World War 2, the lions were confiscated by the Japanese and sent to Japan to be melted down. The war ended before this could happen, and the lions were recognised by an American sailor in a dockyard in Osaka in 1945. They were returned a few months later and restored to their original positions in October 1946.
During the demolition of the building in 1981, the lions were temporarily moved to Statue Square, opposite the main entrance. As a mark of the respect the lions were held in, the move to Statue Square and the move back in 1985 were accompanied by the chairman Sir Michael Sandberg and senior management of the Bank. The placement of the lions both temporarily and in their current locations was made only after extensive consultations with feng shui practitioners.
The lion named Stephen has shrapnel scars in its left hind-quarters dating from the fighting in the Battle of Hong Kong. When this pair of lions was used as the model for the pair commissioned for the new UK Headquarters of HSBC in 2002, Zambian-born New Zealand sculptor Mark Kennedy was asked not to reproduce these "war wounds" in the copies as the shrapnel marks were seen as historical battle-scars.
The following is a list of bronze copies and re-casts of the HSBC lions:
In Hong Kong:
Hong Kong (1935) – modelled on Shanghai originals; sculpted by W W Wagstaff, cast by Shanghai Arts and Crafts.
Hong Kong (replicas) (2015) – copies of Hong Kong lions; for the celebration of the 150th anniversary of HSBC; placed at the lobby of HSBC Centre, HSBC's back office headquarter in Hong Kong.
In China:
Shanghai (original) (1923) – sculpted by Henry Poole RA, cast by J W Stinger & Sons. The originals are held by the Shanghai Historic Museum (which currently has no permanent home) and are separately on display at the Museum's display room under the Oriental Pearl Tower (Stephen) and the Shanghai Banking Museum (Stitt), both in Lujiazui.
Various other HSBC branches throughout the world feature small-scaled replicas of these originals, with varying degrees of faithfulness. Other HSBC branches often feature guardian lions to different designs, such as Chinese guardian lions.
Lighting scheme
The HSBC Main Building at night
In 2003, the Hong Kong Tourism Board developed a harbour lighting plan called "A Symphony of Lights", a large-scale multimedia show featuring lighting, laser, music, and occasionally special pyrotechnics effects during festivals, to promote tourism in Hong Kong. The show was based on the illumination of key buildings on the Hong Kong Island side, and was best viewed from the Kowloon side across the Victoria Harbour. The HSBC Hong Kong headquarters building was one of the participating buildings in the show.
^Charlie Q. L. Xue, "From Commercial to Global" (pp.169-199), in Hong Kong Architecture 1945–2015 (p.180-1: "In 1933, Palmer & Turner designed its third-generation building in the Art Deco style. Opened in 1935, the building had 13 floors and was 70 m high. Once the largest building in the Far East, the symmetrical building was the first to use air-conditioning in Hong Kong. During the Japanese occupation, the building was used as the government's headquarters. The central gate was rather small to receive a large influx of people. The external wall looked solid, but felt enclosed to the eyes of the 1980s (Fig. 7.9).")
