Jardine House

Jardine House
怡和大廈
Jardine House, as seen from Edinburgh Place; Exchange Square towers 1 & 2 at the background.
General information
Type	Office
Location	Hong Kong
Coordinates	22°16′59″N 114°9′32″E / 22.28306°N 114.15889°E / 22.28306; 114.15889Coordinates: 22°16′59″N 114°9′32″E / 22.28306°N 114.15889°E / 22.28306; 114.15889
Construction started	?
Completed	1972
Opening	1973
Cost	Land lease HK$ Construction HK$
Height
Roof	178.5 m (585.6 ft)
Top floor	168.5 m (552.8 ft)
Technical details
Floor count	52
Floor area	700,000 sq ft (65,032 m2)
Elevator count	24 + 2[citation needed]
Design and construction
Owner	Hongkong Land
Main contractor	Gammon Construction
Architect	Palmer & Turner
Developer	Hongkong Land
References
[1][2]

Jardine House (Chinese: 怡和大廈), formerly known as Connaught Centre (康樂大廈), is an office tower in Hong Kong. The building is located at 1 Connaught Place, Central on the Hong Kong Island. It is owned by Hongkong Land Limited, a subsidiary of Jardines. At the time of its completion in 1972, Jardine House was the tallest building in Hong Kong and in Asia.^[1][3] In 1980, the Hopewell Centre usurped the title of the tallest building in Hong Kong.^[3] The building is interconnected with buildings of Hongkong Land Limited like Exchange Square and International Finance Centre by Central Elevated Walkway.

Jardine House was prominently displayed in the 1988 NBC television miniseries Noble House as the headquarters for Struan's.

History

Jardine House (first building from the right) is located in the central business district on Hong Kong Island, next to the HSBC Building, Cheung Kong Center and the BOC Tower.

Old Jardine House

The new Jardine House tower replaced the old 16-storey Jardine House that was situated at 20 Pedder Street. The construction of the old Jardine House was finished in 1948.^[4] The original building was sold by Jardines during the land acquisition exercise of the Landmark complex in Central and 20 Pedder Street is now occupied by the Wheelock House.

New Jardine House

The new building is constructed on a piece of reclaimed land, under a lease term of 75 years, which was secured by Hongkong Land Limited at a record price of HK$248 million in 1970, payable interest free over a period of 10 years.^[2] In exchange, the Government agreed that no building directly to the north of Jardine House would ever be built to obstruct its views. As a result, the height of General Post Office building was capped at 120 ft (37 m).^[5] Building costs were estimated at $120 million.^[2] Construction of the fifty-two storey building took 16 months. Metal lettering from the Old Jardine House was salvaged and used in the lobby of the New Jardine House.

The building featured in the 1978 episode titled "The Chinese Web" of "The Amazing Spider Man" TV series.

Design

The building is constructed with a metal frame, and a curtain wall with round windows. The thickness of the structural frame is reduced because of the shape of the windows. Unusually for a Jardine property, elevators were produced by Otis Elevator, while escalators were manufactured by Schindler Elevator.

The circular design of the windows has earned the building the nickname, "The House of a Thousand Arseholes."

Current tenants

• The tai pan of 怡和 Jardine Matheson keeps an office on the top two floors.
• British Airways and Qantas Airways ticket office is on the 24th floor.
• The Hong Kong headquarters of Rolex are located on the 12th floor.
• JPMorgan Chase financial firm has an office on 2 floor.

Gallery

• 
• 

  Jardine House, 27 April 2007

• 

  Jardine House Lift Lobby in Ground Floor

• 

  The Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Jardine House and Two International Finance Center seen from the Statue Square, 16 December 2006

• 

  Hong Kong Legislative Council building, Jardine House and Two International Finance Center at night, 7 December 2006

See also

• List of tallest buildings in Hong Kong
• List of buildings and structures in Hong Kong

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "Jardine House - SkyscraperPage.com". http://skyscraperpage.com/cities/?buildingID=316. Retrieved 2007-11-06. 
2. ^ ^{a b c} Christopher Marley (1972-05-30). "Office supply and demand in harmony". The Times. http://sunzi1.lib.hku.hk/newspaper/view/12_07.01/117194.pdf. 
3. ^ ^{a b} "Jardine House - www.emporis.com". http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=121006. Retrieved 2007-11-06. 
4. ^ "Old Jardine House - www.emporis.com". http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=102764. Retrieved 2007-11-06. 
5. ^ GOVERNMENT - HK LAND 'PACT' LIMITS NEW GPO'S HEIGHT, The Star, April 14, 1976

External links

• Jardine House, Hong Kong Land website
• Pictures of Jardine House at skyscraperphotos.com

Preceded by Pearl City Mansion

Tallest Building in Hong Kong 1972 – 1980

Succeeded by Hopewell Centre