1881 Heritage

I was on a bus home this Tuesday afternoon, December 29th. At the end of Canton Road , Tsim Sha Tsui, I discovered several grand shops. I managed to take two photos of this newly developed site, called 1881 Heritage.

The original site of 1881 Heritage was the headquarters of the Hong Kong Marine Police from the 1880's to 1996. In recent years, under a redeveloped scheme, the Former Marine Police Headquarters Main Building (a Victorian architectural building) was preserved and changed to a heritage hotel. The Former Stable Block, Time Ball Tower and Former Fire Station were also kept at the site.

Now 1881 Heritage occupies an area of 130,000 square feet. It features a shopping mall, a hotel of around 30 rooms of sizes 800 to 1000 sq feet and an exhibition hall. It was first opened on October 15th this year.

Of all the 182 trees before the site was redeveloped, now only 18 trees remained. Visitors are free to take photos in the open, but they are not allowed to walk freely nor they are allowed to take photos in the area of the hotel unless they are the registered residents.

Looking at my photos closely, I learned that its fountain is of a mini-class and the Christmas tree is protected by a glass structure marked with “1881” all the way up.

To me, 1881 Heritage is just a “strange” place where only rich people will go shopping or stay in its hotel.