Jardine House
For seven years — 1973 to 1980 — this 52-storey tower with porthole windows was the tallest building in all of Asia.
Coming soon on iOS — be first to walk Hong Kong offline.
The round-windowed curtain wall made it one of the most recognizable skyline shapes in Central when it was built on reclaimed harbor land. The land lease alone cost HK$258 million in 1970, with the government agreeing to cap the neighboring General Post Office at 120 ft so nothing to the north would ever block its view.
What to look for
- Round porthole windows covering the entire curtain wall — the defining feature that sets it apart from every glass box around it
- Salvaged metal lettering from the original Jardine House on Pedder Street, repurposed in the lobby of this building
- The Central Elevated Walkway link connecting directly to Exchange Square and the International Finance Centre
Enter from 1 Connaught Place, Central; reach it without touching street level via the elevated walkway from Exchange Square.
Jardine House is one of 34 sights worth the detour in Hong Kong, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Hong Kong pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Hong Kong
- International Commerce CentreAt 484 m, this is the only building in Hong Kong with more than 100 floors — and it had to be trimmed down so it wouldn't overtop the surrounding mountains.
- Bank of China TowerThe first skyscraper outside the United States to break 1,000 feet — its glass triangles cut the Central skyline unlike anything around it.
- Central PlazaA four-bar neon clock 374 metres above Wan Chai changes colour every 15 minutes, blinking at each quarter-hour change.
- Hong Kong DisneylandThe only Disneyland where a walkway was deliberately bent so good qi energy would not drain into the South China Sea.
- The CenterAfter dark, hundreds of neon bars scroll slowly through the full color spectrum from base to crown — a light show wired into the steel itself.
- Tsing Ma BridgeThe span that ended Lantau Island's water-only isolation — 1,377 metres of road and rail hung from two towers.