MacDonnell Road

For former name of Canton Road in Kowlooon, see Canton Road.
Western end of MacDonnell Road, at its junction with Garden Road. The building on the right is St. John Tower, which houses the headquarters of Hong Kong St. John Ambulance.
YWCA Hong Kong headquarters at No. 1 MacDonnell Road.
View of MacDonnell Road near its western junction with Garden Road.
View of MacDonnell Road near MacDonnell Road Bridge.
Hong Kong Branch of the First Church of Christ, Scientist along MacDonnell Road.
Entrance of St. Paul's Co-educational College on MacDonnell Road.
MacDonnell Road crosses the tracks of the Peak Tram at MacDonnell Road Bridge, near MacDonnell Road stop. The current bridge was built in 1938, replacing an older bridge.

MacDonnell Road (Chinese: 麥當勞道; Cantonese Yale: mak6 dong1 lou4 dou6, formerly 麥當奴道) is a street in the Mid-Levels area of Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong.

MacDonnell Road is one of the most expensive roads in Central Mid-Levels, together with Old Peak Road, Magazine Gap Road, Tregunter Path, Bowen Road, Borrett Road and May Road.[citation needed]

Location

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Starting from Garden Road, the road runs westward in the Mid-Levels and ends in Kennedy Road.[1]

Name

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MacDonnell Road is named after former Hong Kong Governor Richard Graves MacDonnell, who was in office from 1866 to 1872. MacDonnell developed Victoria Peak during his tenure.[1]

Several streets in Kowloon, built in the second half of the 19th century, were given names that were duplicates of street names on Hong Kong Island. To avoid confusion, their names were changed in 1909, and MacDonnell Road on Kowloon was then renamed Canton Road.[2][3]

The 1904 book English Made Easy by Mok Man Cheung was published in Hong Kong and listed MacDonnell Road as 'Mac Donald Road'.[4]

The Chinese name of fast food chain McDonald's (麥當勞) is the same as the Chinese name of this road (麥當勞道), with "道" meaning "Road". The first McDonald's restaurant was opened in Hong Kong in January 1975, and the name was chosen because it represented a "well-known local street".[5]

History

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Construction of MacDonnell Road started in 1891[6] and its first section was completed in 1892.[7] The Road was extended eastward in 1899, then forming a junction with Bowen Road in its eastern end.[8]

Crown land lots at MacDonnell Road were let by public auction for 999-year leases as early as 1896.[9][10] The colonial government ceased offering such long leases after May 1898, and only a limited number of plots on Hong Kong Island and in Kowloon have a lease term of 999 years.[11]

In 1903, parts of MacDonnell Road were infested with anopheles, and malaria was rife there.[12] Nullahs in the area were cleared as a preventive measure.[13]

Before World War II, the area below Victoria Peak was home to people from a number of ethnic backgrounds. Wealthy Japanese were living as high up as MacDonnell Road.[14]

During the Battle of Hong Kong in December 1941, the headquarters of the 2/14th Battalion, Punjab Regiment was located on MacDonnell Road. The 2/14 Punjab were part of the West Brigade, and their tactical area of responsibility stretched along the northwestern shore of Hong Kong Island from Causeway Bay to Belcher's Point, including the defense of the Governor's House and of Major General Maltby's headquarters.[15]

In April 1957, the Chinese name of the road was renamed from "麥當奴道" to "麥當勞道", likely because of the negative implication of "奴" as in "slave" in English.[16][17] Since 2023, it became a point of interest for Chinese tourists, taking pictures of the road sign with McDonald's food, as both share the same Chinese name.[18]

Features

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Features along the road include:

Notable residents

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  • Stanley Ho (1921–2020), Hong Kong-Macau billionaire businessman. Ho grew up in a two-house residence on MacDonnell Road, "with two gardens that ran for half a mile".[28]
  • Lee Shau-kee (born 1928), Hong Kong business magnate. Lee and his family lived in the penthouse at Eva Court (惠苑) at 36 MacDonnell Road from 1984 to the 2010s. The 22-storey residential building had been developed for the Lee family and was named after Lee Shau-kee's ex-wife, Lau Wai-ken.[29] In 2010, Lee spent HK$1.82 billion for a plot of land on The Peak to build his new home. The newly acquired plot was the most expensive residential site in the world at the time on a per square foot basis.[30]
  • Kenny Bee (born 1953), Hong Kong singer, musician and actor. He released an autobiography in December 2007, titled 麥當勞道 (MacDonnell Road), named after the street he grew up on.[31][32]

Cited buildings

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Several buildings along MacDonnell Road have been cited in books and research articles. They include:

  • Cases involving several buildings along MacDonnell Road have contributed to the clarification of the legal definition of "immediate neighborhood " in Hong Kong. They include the No. 3 MacDonnell Road Case and Nos. 16-18 MacDonnell Road Case.[33]
  • E.H. Ray, Joyce Symons' granduncle lived at MacDonnell Road before World War II. His house was commandeered by the military during the Battle of Hong Kong.[34]
  • No. 6. Noel Croucher bought and redeveloped the property at No. 6 MacDonnell Road in the 1950s and he owned it for many years.[35]

Conservation

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The western half of MacDonnell Road is part of the Central Route of the Central and Western Heritage Trail of the Hong Kong Tourist Association.[36] The Route includes the First Church of Christ Scientist Hong Kong[24][25] and St. Paul's Co-educational College.[37]

Transportation

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The Peak Tram meets the road near the St. Paul's Co-educational College.

Other than the Peak Tram (MacDonnell Road stop), MacDonnell Road can be reached by Citybus route 12A running from Admiralty, and the Public light bus route 1A running from Star Ferry in Central.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Yanne, Andrew; Heller, Gillis (2009). Signs of a Colonial Era. Hong Kong University Press. p. 50. ISBN 9789622099449.
  2. ^ "Changes in Names of Streets" (PDF). Hong Kong Government Gazette. GA 1909 no.184 (1909): 173. 19 March 1909.
  3. ^ Bard, Solomon (2002). Voices from the past: Hong Kong, 1842-1918. Hong Kong University Press. p. 177. ISBN 978-9622095748.
  4. ^ Sweeting, Anthony (1987). "A Middleman for All Seasons: Snapshots of the Significance of Mok Man Cheung and His "English Made Easy"" (PDF). Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch. 27: 54. ISSN 1991-7295.
  5. ^ Watson, James L. (1997). Golden Arches East: McDonald's in East Asia. Stanford University Press. pp. 81–83. ISBN 9780804767392.
  6. ^ "Surveyor's General Department. Report for the Year 1891" (PDF). Hong Kong Government Sessional Papers. SP 1892: 109. 13 January 1892. OCLC 266073451.
  7. ^ "Report of the Director of Public Works for 1892" (PDF). Hong Kong Government Sessional Papers. SP 1893: 115. 13 January 1892. OCLC 266073451.
  8. ^ "Report of the Director of Public Works for 1899" (PDF). Hong Kong Government Sessional Papers. SP 1900: 237. 9 April 1900. OCLC 266073451. (iv.) Completion, of Macdonnell Road. - This work consisted of extending the road constructed in 1891, between Kennedy and Bowen Road, eastwards to form a junction with the former. The work has been completed and practically every available building site along the entire length of the road has been sold and building operations are in progress on all of them. In connection with this work, a convenient pathway has been constructed alongside one of the nullahs, between Macdonnell and Kennedy Roads.
  9. ^ "Land Sale, MacDonnell Road" (PDF). Hong Kong Government Gazette. GA 1896 no.238 (1896): 514. 27 June 1896.
  10. ^ "Land Sale, MacDonnell Road" (PDF). Hong Kong Government Gazette. GA 1896 no.294 (1896): 704. 25 July 1896.
  11. ^ "Land tenure system in Hong Kong". Legislative Council of Hong Kong.
  12. ^ Atkinson, W.M.; Lond, M.B. (25 July 1903). "Memoranda. Parturition Complicated by Malaria Fever" (PDF). The British Medical Journal: 193.
  13. ^ "Hansard / Votes and proceedings (LegCo Sittings 1903 Session)" (PDF). Hansard. Legislative Council of Hong Kong: 33. 17 September 1903.
  14. ^ Horne, Gerald (2004). "Chapter 1. To Be of "Pure European Descent"". Race War!: White Supremacy and the Japanese Attack on the British Empire. New York University Press. p. 19. ISBN 9780814736418. JSTOR j.ctt9qg215.
  15. ^ Lai, Benjamin (2014). Hong Kong 1941–45: First strike in the Pacific War. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 50. ISBN 9781782002697.
  16. ^ "考考你正字！ 麥當勞道係「勞」定「奴」？". on.cc東網 (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). 2017-08-04. Retrieved 2023-05-06.
  17. ^ "【真本土】拆牌改街名？馬冠堯：街道名字代表了整個香港的歷史". 明周文化 (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). 2018-03-23. Retrieved 2023-05-06.
  18. ^ "【另類打卡】内地游客帶外賣麥當勞道打卡 拆解麥當勞道成打卡熱點之謎 - 香港經濟日報 - TOPick - 休閒消費". topick.hket.com. Retrieved 2023-05-06.
  19. ^ "Our Locations". Hong Kong St. John Ambulance.
  20. ^ Poon, Ka-po (April 2005). "Chapter 4". An empirical study of the determinants of serviced apartmentrent in Hong Kong (B.Sc). University of Hong Kong. p. 50.
  21. ^ Yu, Helen (28 May 2020). "The Most Luxurious Serviced Apartments In Hong Kong". Asia Tatler.
  22. ^ "Tenders invited for reconstruction of Macdonnell Road Bridge" (PDF). Hong Kong Government Gazette. GA 1938 (suppl) no.271 (1938): 501. 8 August 1938.
  23. ^ "Report of the Director of Public Works for the Year 1938" (PDF). Hong Kong Government Administrative Report. AR 1938: Q26. 8 August 1938.
  24. ^ a b Antiquities Advisory Board. Historic Building Appraisal. First Church of Christ, Scientist. No. 31 MacDonnell Road, Central
  25. ^ a b Antiquities and Monuments Office. Central and Western Heritage Trail. First Church of Christ Scientist Hong Kong
  26. ^ a b Antiquities Advisory Board. List of the 1,444 Historic Buildings with Assessment Results
  27. ^ Antiquities Advisory Board. Historic Building Appraisal. School building of 1927, St Paul's Co-educational College, No. 33 MacDonnell Road
  28. ^ Sito, Peggy; Li, Sandy; Liu, Yujing (26 May 2020). "Stanley Ho, patriarch of Asia's largest casino empire and the 'King of Gambling' for more than half a century, dies at 98". South China Morning Post.
  29. ^ Liu, Yvonne (19 May 2010). "Lee pays HK$1.82b for site on Peak". South China Morning Post.
  30. ^ "Lee Shau-kee To Retire: 5 Things To Know About Hong Kong's Second Richest Man". Asia Tatler. 21 March 2019.
  31. ^ "麥當勞道". www.hkreadingcity.net (in Chinese).
  32. ^ Bee, Kenny; He, Baorong; Huang, Tingguang (December 2007). 麥當勞道 [MacDonnell Road] (in Chinese). 世界出版社 (World Publishing Co.). ISBN 9789889998929.
  33. ^ Lai, Lawrence Wai-chung; Ho, Daniel Chi-wing (2000). Planning Buildings for a High-Rise Environment in Hong Kong: A Review of Building Appeal Decisions. Hong Kong University Press. pp. 29, 30, 89, 92. ISBN 9789622095052.
  34. ^ Lee, Vicky (2004). Being Eurasian: Memories Across Racial Divides. Hong Kong University Press. pp. 56, 68. ISBN 9789622096707.
  35. ^ England, Vaudine (1998). The Quest of Noel Croucher: Hong Kong's Quiet Philanthropist. Hong Kong University Press. pp. 171, 206. ISBN 9789622094734.
  36. ^ Antiquities and Monuments Office. Map of Central and Western Heritage Trail
  37. ^ Antiquities and Monuments Office. Central and Western Heritage Trail. St. Paul's Co-educational College
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