Heritage Lost: General Post Office

The General Post Office was opened in 1976, but will be demolished soon

I have fond memories of the Central Post Office, when Queen's Pier used to be nearby to take the Star Ferry to Tsim Sha Tsui. When I first arrived in Hong Kong to work in the mid-1990s, I used to mail letters and large envelopes of newspaper clippings to my parents. The staff were so efficient and nice.

These days the place isn't as busy, people aren't queuing up to buy sheets of stamps, but mostly packages and the odd bulk mailing.

Notice the large marble slabs used as counter space

Last year there was a news story announcing the General Post Office in Central would be demolished to make way for A-grade office buildings. The post office would move its operations to an eight-storey building in Kowloon Bay, near the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal at a cost of HK$1.7 billion.

But there are hopes to protect some aspects of the building, though there haven't been any updates on this or when exactly the building will be knocked down.

I told my visiting architect cousin about this and so he wanted to check out the building. He was amazed by the beautiful marble slabs on the counters and wondered if they would be salvaged before the demolition.

We also saw a wooden arch that was probably saved from the previous General Post Office. It reads: "As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country". Below it is a black plaque that says the current building was opened on August 11, 1976 by Sir Murray Maclehose, then Governor of Hong Kong.

"As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country"

When we wandered in before 1pm on a Saturday, the counters were almost all empty, with staff chatting among each other. What will happen to all the people who have GPO boxes in Central? 

It's a shame the building has to be torn down -- it's a major landmark in Central and is an important walkway to get to IFC and the ferry piers, or vice versa to City Hall and office buildings like Jardine House.

But with land prices being so high, the government seems to think it needs to make more money (how much more does it need?) by selling prime land.

If anyone needs an education about heritage, it's the government. It has no understanding or appreciation of the importance of preserving old buildings, and then it wonders why it has no more heritage to promote to tourists...

A Quick Visit to Tai Kwun

One of the two courtyards in Tai Kwun that gives a wonderful spacious area

The other day I had a bit of time and was near the newest landmark in Hong Kong -- Tai Kwun (大馆), or the former Central Police Station and had a quick look around.

The beautiful staircase that everyone has photographed

Many people have posted pictures on social media already, particularly the spiral staircase and the stairs where it says "Mind the Step" at each step... a bit tedious one might say.

Tai Kwun has been a long time coming. It was closed in 2006 and then the public got a chance to look at it before it was renovated in 2008 in a partnership between the Hong Kong Jockey Club and the Hong Kong government, but nothing happened for a long time; perhaps behind the scenes there was a lot of assessment that had to be done in terms of the buildings' stability and condition.

And then in May 2016 one of the retaining walls suddenly collapsed that set back the project another year or so. Meanwhile as a passerby, the construction site was wrapped up in white and for a long time we couldn't see any progress.

The second courtyard with a Herzog & de Meuron building

But finally a few months ago Tai Kwun opened its doors. Much of the original buildings have been retained, and there are two modern additions to the compound, futuristic buildings designed by Herzog & de Meuron, who you may remember designed the Bird's Nest in Beijing.

The Central Police Station was first built in 1841, and it's a huge complex that has two giant courtyards with trees, making it quite a nice setting. However the jail cells -- you can see some of them -- seem quite tiny, and prisoners were physically tortured. They couldn't even use the toilet -- only a bucket, and another bucket of fresh water.

You can access Tai Kwun from the Mid-Levels escalator

Some of the spaces in the buildings have been converted into cafes and restaurants, while the larger spaces are for art exhibitions by local artists. However we prefer admiring the architecture. There's a lot of concrete but also wood, and the compound is pretty much in tact, leaving the massive courtyards free for people to wander and feel enveloped by the space.

I have yet to try the restaurants and bars here, but it would be quite neat to dine here and see what the atmosphere is like in the evening.

Meanwhile I have heard from people who live and work in the area are so glad Tai Kwun is open because the scaffolding around it made the area congested and now there are more options for pedestrians to get around Wyndham Street.

One of the tiny jail cells in Tai Kwun

I will have to come back another time to look at Tai Kwun again more closely, but it's a nice way to spend even 20 minutes wandering around and admiring our latest landmark in the city.

The Ritual of Dining

There's beautiful architecture in the Chijmes complex

Singapore has lots of spanking new malls... every other street has one with all the same stores.

But there are some interesting heritage buildings and one of them is Chijmes, pronounced "Chimes" in the downtown area that was only minutes from my tiny hotel.

It was founded in 1852 by Father Jean-Marie Beurel, who wanted to start a school in Singapore, and later it was taken over by nuns who ran a school for girls, Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus.

The buildings underwent major conservation many years ago

Then in 1933 it was known as Saint Nicholas Girls' School; 50 years later the school was moved to another location and the chapel was deconsecrated.

So for some people of a certain generation, it was a Catholic school they attended. But in 1990 the building complex that takes up one city block was put up for sale and from 1991 it underwent five years of conservation and restoration work and now features many restaurants, bars and even a massage place.

For former students it's a shock to see the place where they went to school become a place for people to dine and drink alcohol, but for many of us it's an beautiful complex that's being used in a fun way.

This is where Lei Garden is! Imagine having dim sum there!

I went there in the evening to check it out and there are ramen and teppanyaki restaurants, bars and pubs in the basement, and there's even a Lei Garden outlet that has an outdoor patio space. Might be too hot for dim sum though...

Chijmes

30 Victoria Street

Singapore 187996

Why Knock a Good Thing?

The General Post Office in Central is slated for demolition

The Hong Kong government doesn't think the city has enough office towers and malls so it is planning to demolish the General Post Office in Central. The post office and its contents would be moved to a new building in Kowloon Bay that cost taxpayers HK$1.6 billion (US$204 million).

Why do we need to move the General Post Office when we need one in the central business district? The post office has been an essential service not only Monday to Friday but even on Sundays for domestic helpers who are only free that day to mail packages back home.

This was the original General Post Office

And also why do we need another shopping mall? We already have IFC and Landmark in Central, and Pacific Place nearby. Surely those malls don't want competition either.

Environmentalists are using the argument that if you must move the post office, fine, but leave the building there. Roy Tam Hoi-pong of the activist group Green Sense says knocking down the building would create a lot of construction waste which would clog up landfills.

Green Sense has estimated it would produce more than 12,000 cubic metres of waste, the equivalent of five standard-sized swimming pools.

The five-storey Central Post Office was erected in 1976 to replace Hongkong Post's previous Edwardian-era headquarters at the corner of Des Voeux Road Central and Pedder Street.

The site on which the post office is located is known as Site 3, and it is part of a HK$12 billion plan for eight key sites on the Central harbourfront. There are plans for upmarket (ie expensive) office space, a large pedestrian deck and a mix of hotels and shops. Town planners had approved this for the site in September 2016.

Keeping the post office would be of cultural value to the city

Kitty Law Ngar-ning, co-convenor of the Central and Western Concern Group believes the building should be saved for its heritage value.

"The General Post Office has served Hongkongers for more than 40 years and... its symbolism is embodied by all the commerce, trade, cultural and societal exchanges that took place there," she said. "It is an important piece of architecture in our collective memory."

She suggested it be used as an exhibition space or a postal-themed museum. But it could have other uses as well. Why can't part of it remain a post office and the other parts some office space? Looking at how the Murray Building was recently refurbished into a hotel is interesting and useful. Does the government really have no creative ideas?

The government's Commerce and Economic Development Bureau claimed there wasn't enough grade A office space in the area. If that's so why are companies moving their offices away from the central business district? They can't afford the rents anymore!

The impending plan makes no sense, and hopefully lawmakers will question it. If not, we'll be left with another gaping hole in the Central harbourfront area and wondering why Hong Kong doesn't preserve its history and culture...

Picture of the Day: Major Ground Work

The entrance to the Main Wing are blocked off and abandoned...

Last Sunday I walked along Lower Albert Road and I was shocked to see the Central Government Officers... being redeveloped.

While the main structures like the West and East wings are still in tact for now, the ground they are standing on is being redeveloped. After the offices here were abandoned after civil servants moved into the spanking new government offices at Tamar in 2010, the office buildings below Government House are empty and sad-looking.

The Main Wing looks particularly sad, where the media used to cover senior government leaders coming in and leaving this complex on a daily basis, and now it's cordoned off, though the Communist Party insignia is still there...

What's going on here on the West Wing property?

Apparently the site is being fixed up for the Justice Department to move into the Central and East wings.

The government had planned to knock down the West Wing (and build yet another shopping mall) but local activists protested this. They argued that taxpayer dollars were used to buy and develop this land, so the government cannot do whatever it wants, and architecturally these buildings have heritage value, so there was talk of preserving them.

Where are we at now with these buildings? Perhaps they can be developed like PMQ, though how the building will be used is another issue. The business model at PMQ isn't quite working, though everyone likes the cool open spaces here.

In the meantime, we will try to scrutinize this property -- our property -- more often to see what's going on...