The Only Surviving Gas Lamps in Hong Kong at the Duddell Street Steps and Gas Lamps in Hong Kong

A walk amidst the hustle and bustle of Central during a weekday rush hour can be a bewildering experience. As Hong Kong’s business district, Central is the heart of the matter when it concerns business. But visitors to Hong Kong would not miss the historic significance of Central. Innumerable historical structures speak amply to the life of Hong Kong’s early colonial times. Central is a place that epitomizes the spirited motions of Hong Kong life. Central weaves together the dynamics of the business world, the commoners’ lives and the world’s ever-evolving relationships. And this is what defines Hong Kong. Lying on the east of Central’s business district is a set of steps that have acquired historic status. On Queen’s Road Central, go eastward toward the Admiralty direction. Make a right when you see Duddell Street. Keep going about thirty meters and you will come upon a set of granite steps, with classic balustrades lining its two sides. Standing on the four corners of the steps are four gas lamps that came from the colonial times. The Duddell Street was named after the merchant brothers George and Frederick Duddell, who owned a lot of land, property and a public market in Central during the 19th century. They were also some of the first opium farmers in Hong Kong at the time. The Duddell Street Steps connects Duddell Street to Ice House Street in its south, but at a higher elevation. Installation for the Duddell Street Steps and Gas Lamps completed circa 1883-1889, still early in the colonial days. Together, the steps and the gas lamps of Duddell Street are the very expression of colonial architecture. “It is characterised by heavily moulded newels, rails and balusters of Tuscan order.” The Duddell Street Gas Lamps were once the standard lighting in Hong Kong Streets. These lamps are two-light Rochester models of the firm William Sugg & Co., and they were added during the early 20th century. In the old days, they were hand-lit, but now they are lit automatically by the supply of gas by Towngas and they are still working. Every day at 6pm the lamps are lit, and then at 6am they are turned off automatically. In 1967, Hong Kong electrified its street lights, and so these four gas lamps remain the only working examples of gas lamps in all of Hong Kong. #historicallandmarks #hongkonghistory #hongkongheritage #hongkong #central #duddellstreet #gaslamps #streetlights #declaredmonument #historicallandmarks#历史古迹