Architecture of Hong Kong

thumbnail|300px|[[Tong lau in Mong Kok. Once a ubiquitous form of mixed-use architecture in Hong Kong, such shophouses are now a rare sight. These particular shophouses were redeveloped by the Urban Renewal Authority in 2016.]]

The architecture of Hong Kong features great emphasis on contemporary architecture, especially Modernism, Postmodernism, and Functionalism. Due to the lack of available land, few historical buildings remain in the urban areas of Hong Kong. Therefore, Hong Kong has become a centre for modern architecture as older buildings are cleared away to make space for newer, larger buildings. It has more buildings above 35m (or 100m) and more skyscrapers above 150m than any other city. Hong Kong's skyline is often considered to be the best in the world, with the mountains and Victoria Harbour complementing the skyscrapers.

Pre-sincisation architecture

Back in the day of the Nanyue kingdom, Hong Kong was already inhabited. Baiyue peoples in the area demonstrated some level of sophistication in architecture. An example is the Lei Cheng Uk Han Tomb.

File:Model of the Lei Cheng Uk Han Tomb.jpg|Model of Lei Cheng Uk Han Tomb.

File:Lei Cheng Uk Han Tomb.jpg|The Han Tomb's burial chamber.

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Local and Lingnan architecture

Prior to the British settlement of Hong Kong in 1841, architecture in Hong Kong was predominantly Cantonese. With the majority of the population being fishers at the mercy of typhoons and pirates, numerous Tin Hau temples were dedicated to their patron Goddess (女神) Mazu. Likewise farmers built fortified villages to defend themselves from bandits.

After the British established the entrepôt of Victoria City (now Central and Western District on Hong Kong Island), the local population increased substantially, and as a result Tong Lau (tenement common in Southern China, especially Lingnan) began to appear. These were three-to-four-storey buildings, tightly packed in city blocks, and combining Southern Chinese and European architectural elements. The ground floor were typically shops, with apartments and small balconies upstairs. These buildings had stairs but no elevators, and sometimes had no toilet facility. These Tong Lau remained the mainstay of Hong Kong architecture until at least World War II; a number of these building survive to this day, albeit often in a derelict state.

Hong Kong walled villages

File:HK KamTin WingLungWai EntranceGate.JPG|

File:HK PingShan EntranceGate LamHauTsuen.JPG|

File:Kat hing wai kamtin.png|Walled villages are typically very orderly.

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Pang uk

File:Tai O (8).JPG|Pang uk in Tai O; Pang uk were built by Tanka people due to their traditions of living above water.

File:馬灣 - Rooms with a view (8084381914).jpg|Pang uk in Ma Wan.

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Classical Lingnan architecture in Hong Kong

File:HK Shatin TsangTaiUk.JPG|Tsang Tai Uk; It is a distinctively Lingnan building, with the use of "wok yi uk" (walls protruding vertically from both ends of the roof).

File:YuKiuAncestralHall01.jpg|The Yu Kiu ancestral hall in Yuen Long.

File:HK AberdeenTinHauTemple.JPG|A Mazu Temple in Shek Pai Wan. Mazu is a Taoist sea goddess venerated by Cantonese and Hoklo.

File:Tai Fu Tai Mansion.jpg|The Tai Fu Tai Mansion is a strongly Cantonese building.

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Tong laus in Hong Kong

File:HK ShanghaiStreet CantoneseVerandahTypePrewarShophouses.JPG

File:Wan Chai shops.JPG

File:HK CWB 23-33 Haven Street 禮雲大樓 Lei Wen Court facade July-2014.JPG

File:Blue House in February 2025.jpg

File:Lui Seng Chun part 2 in April 2022.jpg

File:Wanchai.jpg

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British architecture

thumb|left|200px|The headquarters of the [[Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited in 1890]]

thumb|Pedder Street Clocktower

Meanwhile, the British introduced Victorian and Edwardian architectural styles from the mid-19th century onwards. Notable surviving examples include the Legislative Council Building, the Central Police Station and Murray House. One building that has since been demolished was the Hong Kong Club Building; it was built atop a smaller structure designed in Italian Renaissance Revival style in 1897. The building was the subject of a bitter heritage conservation struggle in the late 1970s, which ultimately failed to save the building.

The first building in Hong Kong to be classified as the first high rise was constructed between June 1904 and December 1905. It consisted of 5 major buildings, each stacking 5 to 6 stories high. The structures were raised by the Hongkong Land under Catchick Paul Chater and James Johnstone Keswick.

Most high-rise buildings to be built afterwards were for business purposes; the first true skyscraper in Hong Kong was built for HongkongBank in 1935, which was also the first building in Hong Kong to have air conditioning; however this has since been replaced with the HSBC Main Building, Hong Kong of 1985. Likewise the few examples of 1930s Streamline Moderne and Bauhaus architecture in Hong Kong, such as the Central Market and the Wan Chai Market, are facing imminent demolitions despite protests from heritage conservation groups.

In the residential sector, multi-story buildings did not appear until the Buildings Ordinance 1955 lifted the height limit of residential buildings. This change was necessitated by the massive influx of refugees into Hong Kong after the conclusion of the Chinese Communist Revolution in 1949, and the subsequent Shek Kip Mei slum fire in 1953.

Public housing estates, originally seven-storeys high with notoriously cramped conditions, public bathrooms and no kitchens, were hastily built to accommodate the homeless; meanwhile private apartments, still tightly packed into city blocks like the Tong Lau of old, had grown to over 20 stories high by the mid-1960s.

The private housing estate began in 1965 with Mei Foo Sun Chuen. The first major private construction came from Swire properties in 1972 with the development of middle-class estate of Taikoo Shing. With little space wasted on statues or landmarks that consumed unnecessary real estate, Taikoo Shing's design was the new standard.

Gallery

File:Murray house beach.JPG|Murray House

File:Hkhighestcourt1915.jpg|Court of Final Appeal

File:Main Building HKU 20100926 03.JPG|Main building of University of Hong Kong

File:Wanchai PoliceStation09.JPG|Old Wan Chai Police Station

File:HK OldBankOfChinaBuilding Queensway2.JPG|Old Bank of China Building

File:Hong Kong City Hall.jpg|Hong Kong City Hall

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Contemporary architecture

thumb|The Hong Kong skyline in 1978

In the late 1990s, the primary demand for high-end buildings was in and around Central. The buildings of Central comprise the skyline along the coast of the Victoria Harbour, a famous tourist attraction in Hong Kong. But until Kai Tak Airport closed in 1998, strict height restrictions were in force in Kowloon so that aeroplanes could come in to land. These restrictions have now been lifted and many new skyscrapers in Kowloon have been constructed, including the International Commerce Centre at the West Kowloon reclamation, which has been the tallest building in Hong Kong since its completion in 2010.

Many commercial and residential towers built in the past two decades are among the tallest in the world, including Highcliff, The Arch, and The Harbourside. Still, more towers are under construction, like One Island East. At present, Hong Kong has the world's biggest skyline with a total of 7,681 skyscrapers, placing it ahead of even New York City, despite the fact that New York is larger in area. Most of these were built in past two decades.

Hong Kong's best-known building is probably I. M. Pei's Bank of China Tower. The building attracted heated controversy from the moment its design was released to the public, which continued for years after the building's completion in 1990. The building was said to cast negative feng shui energy into the heart of Hong Kong due to the building's sharp angles.