Admiralty, Hong Kong

The area was developed as a military site by the British garrison in Hong Kong in the 19th century. Under their direction, the Wellington Barracks, Murray Barracks, Victoria Barracks and Admiralty Dock were built at the site. Following the urbanisation of the northern shore of Hong Kong Island during the 20th century, the urban area there was split in two by the military site. The colonial government of Hong Kong made repeated attempts to acquire the military site to connect the two urban areas, but were rebuffed. However, from the 1970s onwards the military site was gradually returned to the colonial government, and several commercial buildings and gardens were built on the site.^[2]

The Admiralty station of the MTR was built on the former site of a dockyard which was built in 1878 and demolished in the 1970s. After its completion, the area became increasingly known as Admiralty, rather than Central. During the 2014 Hong Kong protests, substantial tracts of the area were occupied by protestors, who dubbed it Umbrella Square. Admiralty was also a focal point for protestors during the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests.^{[citation needed]}

Buildings in Admiralty consist primarily of office buildings, government buildings, shopping malls and hotels. There are also several parks in the area: Hong Kong Park, Tamar Park and Harcourt Garden.

The main development of the area in recent years has been the development of the Tamar site into the Central Government Complex, which started operating in 2011. Facing Victoria Harbour, the complex houses the Office of the Chief Executive, the Legislative Council Complex and the Central Government Offices.

As one of the main financial areas in Hong Kong, there are plenty of Grade-A commercial buildings in Admiralty^[3] including:

• Admiralty Centre
• Asia Society Hong Kong Centre, housed in the former Former Explosive Magazine of the Victoria Barracks
• Bank of America Tower
• Bank of China Tower
• British Consulate General Hong Kong
• Chinese People's Liberation Army Forces Hong Kong Building
• CITIC Tower
• Cheung Kong Centre
• Far East Finance Centre
• High Court Building
• Lippo Centre, which houses the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office
• Pacific Place, a complex featuring a shopping mall, several hotels and office towers, that opened in Admiralty in phases between 1988 and 1991. The complex is connected to the MTR Admiralty station via an underground walkway. A later phase, Three Pacific Place, is located in Wan Chai
• Queensway Government Offices
• Queensway Plaza, a shopping centre located above Admiralty station
• United Centre

Queensway and Harcourt Road are the major roads in the area. Both roads run from west to east and connect Central to Wan Chai. Other streets include Rodney Street and Tim Mei Avenue. Trams are running across Admiralty along Queensway. Most of the buildings of the area are connected through the Central Elevated Walkway, an extensive footbridge network which extends to the western part of Central.

The area is served by the peaktram and Admiralty station of the MTR. It is an interchange station between Island line, Tsuen Wan line, South Island line and East Rail line. The Admiralty (East) Public Transport Interchange, a major bus terminus, is located above the station.

Corporations headquartered in Admiralty include:

• Everbright International, in the Far East Finance Centre^[4]
• Lippo Ltd, in the Lippo Centre
• CITIC Pacific Ltd, in the CITIC Tower
• Culturecom (formerly Jademan), in the Far East Finance Centre^[5]

• List of buildings, sites and areas in Hong Kong
• Central and Wan Chai Reclamation