Hopewell Centre

Hopewell Building — The building I used to go to almost everyday. From my grandmother’s house to Wanchai Market. Then walked along the Queen’s Road East, went in the building took the elevator to go home or to go to school. That used to be my childhood daily life. Therefore, this is one of the place I must visit every time when I visit Hong Kong. A lot of things has been changed. Wing On was gone, Dim Sum Restaurant was gone. However, Watsons, Starbucks, HK fast food and Mc Donald’s are there now! The building management are nice enough to let me used their elevator for a short cut to go to the Kennedy Road. Yes! Forget about to walk up the hill or the stairs from Queen’s Road East. Use their elevator, take it to the 17^th floor to the Kennedy Road.

This is one of the most emblematic buildings and once the tallest in Hong Kong (until 1989 when the Bank of China Tower was built). It’s also the first circular high rise of the city. With so many skyscrapers in such a small space I hadn’t really noticed it even though I’ve been there many times (most of them grocery shopping at Taste). It wasn’t until a friend of mine who was visiting asked me to take him to this place so that he could admire the views from the 62^nd floor. I was embarrassed to not to know much about all that and decided to look into it.
In fact, the building is 64 floors high and it was completed in 1980. They named it after the property firm that manages it, of the same name. Apparently, due to the hilly nature of the ground, the entrance from behind is at the 17^th floor and there is a circular private pool in the roof. On the 62^nd floor there used to be a revolving restaurant completing a 360 degree rotation every hour, called Revolving 66, then changed to View 62 and now seems to be vacant. However there are numerous other dining places in the building (The Yuu, Papillon Caffé, Cuisine Royale…), book stores, Fitness First, Venchi… but most of it it’s offices.
It belongs to the so-​called ‘The East’, a shopping and dining hub formed by Hopewell Centre, Wu Chung House, QRE Plaza and GARDENEast which is mainly made up by restaurants.
Now, if you read my review and have a friend over, you’ll be able to fill in some details about this building. You’re welcome!