About this collection
Just before midday, on 17 October 1934, a Guard of Honour lined up opposite a building site in central Hong Kong. This marked the start of the foundation stone laying ceremony to herald our new head office premises at One Queen’s Road. The event featured dignitaries, music, speeches, and a tour of the site. The Wall Street Crash was still fresh in the memory and Hong Kong was battling out of a worldwide depression. Our new building – the tallest in Asia at the time – came to symbolise the city’s resilience and enduring prosperity. It would serve as an iconic landmark for decades until the opening of our fourth head office in 1986.
