[FIELDWORK REPORT] David Chung and Brayden Lisboa

General Post Office

The General Post office is the headquarters of the Hong Kong post. Initially

built in 1976, the building sits adjacent to the Ferry Pier, Jardine House and

the IFC. Prior to its location in Connaught Place, Central, the General Post

office was located in St. John’s Cathedral, Garden Road (1841-86), Queen’s

Road Central (1846-1911), and the Junction of Des Voeux Road Central and

Pedder Street (1911-76).

David: The Government’s Commerce and Economic Development Bureau has

stated that the current site of the General Post Office is planned to be

redeveloped into a new commercial building under the new government plan.

The General Post Office building, opened in 1976, will be torn down and its

contents moved to a new location in Kowloon Bay. The new eight-storey

building will be near Kai Tak Cruise Terminal and cost HK$1.7 billion.

“The proposal has two aims. We hope it will be an opportunity for Hongkong

Post to consolidate work from different departments to enhance its operational

efficiency, and secondly, to meet the demands of a shortage of A-grade office

space in Central,” Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development

Edward Yau Tang-wah said. The redevelopment is part of a HK$12 billion plan

for eight key sites to transform the Central harbourfront in the heart of the city

to provide upmarket office space, a large pedestrian deck, public space and a

mix of hotel and retail facilities. The Town Planning Board approved the outline

for the General Post Office site in September.

The first generation GPO was located at the current Former Central

Government Offices, which is an office building complex that housed most of

the major offices of the Hong Kong Government in 1957. It used to serve as

the major government office, such as the Civil Service Bureau, Housing,

Planning and Lands Bureau.

The 4th generation GPO was put to use from 11 August 1976. It is a

five-storey building, with a basement car park for Post Office vehicles. All

international mail and parcels, as well as mail within Hong Kong Island were

processed in this building. The 2nd floor is used, until now, for the public to

use services such as the main lobby, counters and also post boxes. Before

reclamation, barges could be parked under the GPO and international mail

and parcels were transported there and back after processing.

Apart from mail-related operations, it also serves as a cultural and recreational

place for the general public to learn about the history of mail in Hong Kong.

The Postal Gallery, which is located at the ground floor of the GPO displays a

wide range of postal related items and philatelic products in different

categories, such as special edition stamps, old postal equipment and printing

samples, telling the story of postal history in Hong Kong. One notable relic

preserved is a wooden decorative arch which inscribes the Bible verse, “As

cold waters to a thirsty soul, So is good news from a far country”, which

reflects the historical background of when Hong Kong government

establishments were infused with heavy Christian influence, with reference to

the historical background of HK being a British colony, and also serving as a

sort of motto to reference that news coming from loved ones from afar in the

Brayden: The main group of people who will be affected by the demolition of

the General Post office are heritage and architecture enthusiasts who argue

that the Post Office is an integral part of HK society and culture, and the only

remaining public building from the 1960’s Central coastal reclamation.

-built by a local architect K.M. Tseng, who worked for the Architectural

Services Department and was in charge of designing multiple government

buildings around HK, including the Queensway Government Offices. The

building is now still serving its original purpose.

-”form follows function” – floors dedicated to machines and equipment with no

windows, small rectangular windows on floors where human personnel work.

Basement of building built as a sheltered berth for mail barges.

-The first central vacuum system in Hong Kong: Tiny holes on both sides of

the floors installed as a part of the now-defunct central vacuum system. These

holes collect the dust and dirt particles and transfer them through the tubes

installed within the walls.

However, despite the previous claims and recognitions from Docomomo,

former Architectural Services Department Senior Architect Raymond Fung

claims that GPO is “not a remarkable architecture” and has no preservation