Beaconsfield House
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| Beaconsfield House Chinese: 攻北行 |
|
Beaconsfield House, Hong Kong, c.1966 |
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| Information | |
|---|---|
| Location | 4 Queen's Road, Central, Hong Kong |
| Status | Destroyed |
| Opening | June 8, 1963 |
| Destroyed | 1995 |
| Use | Government offices |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 6 |
| Elevator count | 1 |
| Owner | HK Government |
Beaconsfield House (Chinese: 攻北行 "Defend the North House") was a government office building in Hong Kong's Central district.
Built in 1963, the building was home to the Information Services Department until it was demolished along with the neighbouring Hong Kong Hilton in 1995 to make way for the Cheung Kong Centre.
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[edit] Plot history
The 18,300 sq ft site was carved out of a rocky hill on the shore of Victoria Harbour. In 1841, Hong Kong's Deputy Superintendent of Trade and acting administrator, Alexander Johnston, had the upper part of the hill levelled to build a home. The slope below was cut away to provide space for stables and outbuildings, and the rock and earth were used for reclamation.[1]
[edit] The first generation building
[edit] The second generation building
The building was constructed in a utilitarian style of the 1960s, and consisted of 6 storeys.
The lower floors were occupied by the Royal Hong Kong Regiment (The Volunteers), which had its officers' and NCOs' mess in the building.[2] The building thus housed three service messes, a post office and a public toilet. The Information Services Department moved its offices from the west wing of the Government Offices to Beaconsfield House.[1]
The ISD and its 100 staff had moved into the two uppermost floors. The space was configured into a news room, press conference room, Chinese translators' office, teleprinter service, photographic studio and darkroom, art studio, editorial section, film unit and two theatres for the censorship of commercial feature films. A publications distribution office, administrative office and various secretarial desks also shared the space.[1]
The messes served relatively cheap meals and were open to the public.
[edit] Access
The building could be accessed from Queen's Road by elevator. The building had another pedestrian entrance from Battery Path, at the level of the French Mission Building.[1]
[edit] Redevelopment
In May 1994, there was criticism when it was revealed that the government entered into discussions with Cheung Kong for the private sale of the site, along with the adjacent 33,700 sq ft (3,130 m²) Government car park site.[3] Talks had commenced in May 1993, and were finalised in August 1995[4] In April, 1995, Executive Council has approved the sale of the site, for a sum estimated to be in excess of HK$5.5 billion.[5]
In September 1995, the Planning authorities passed the redevelopment proposals for the 9,900 m² combined site.[6] With a plot ratio of 15, 1,600,000 sq ft (149,000 m²) building (including car park) would be built. The developer agreed with the planners that most of the building would actually go on the Hilton site; much of the car park and Beaconsfield house area would be given over to park and public amenities.
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d Chapter 7: Defending the North House GIS through the years. HK Government, Accessed 2007-07-27
- ^ Joshua Fellman, 'Unlikely' project closer with Hilton approval, The Standard, September 18, 1995
- ^ Joshua Fellman, Government silent over 'private sale', The Standard, May 04, 1994
- ^ Winnie Wu, Agreement over Hilton premiums finalised in near term, The Standard, August 02, 1995
- ^ Karen Chan, Exco agrees to property firm's redevelopment plans for Beaconsfield House Cheung Kong gets go-ahead, The Standard, April 28, 1995
- ^ Joshua Fellman, Development plan for Hilton site passed,The Standard, September 16, 1995
[edit] External links
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