The
Flagstaff House is the oldest colonial-style building remaining in
Hong KongHong Kong , officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a highly autonomous territory of the People's Republic of China, facing Guangdong to the north and the South China Sea to the east, west and south...
. It is located in 10
Cotton Tree DriveCotton Tree Drive is a road in Central to Mid-levels on the Hong Kong Island in Hong Kong. The road is famous because of Cotton Tree Drive Marriage Registry, a hotspot for marriage registration in Hong Kong Park....
,
CentralCentral , the central business district of Hong Kong, was commonly known as part of Victoria City. It is an area on the north shore of Hong Kong Island. It is located across Victoria Harbour from Tsim Sha Tsui, the southernmost point of Kowloon Peninsula...
- within the
Hong Kong ParkThe Hong Kong Park is a public park next to Cotton Tree Drive in Central, Hong Kong. It covers an area of 80,000 m² and is an example of modern design and facilities blending with natural landscape.-History:...
.
It has been a longtime residence of the Commander of the British forces in Hong Kong during colonial times. Today Flagstaff House houses the
Museum of Tea Ware. The building is a popular setting for
wedding photographyWedding photography is the photography of activities relating to weddings. It encompasses photographs of the couple before marriage as well as coverage of the wedding and reception...
.
Flagstaff House had been named as
Headquarter House until 1932.
The
Flagstaff House is the oldest colonial-style building remaining in
Hong KongHong Kong , officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a highly autonomous territory of the People's Republic of China, facing Guangdong to the north and the South China Sea to the east, west and south...
. It is located in 10
Cotton Tree DriveCotton Tree Drive is a road in Central to Mid-levels on the Hong Kong Island in Hong Kong. The road is famous because of Cotton Tree Drive Marriage Registry, a hotspot for marriage registration in Hong Kong Park....
,
CentralCentral , the central business district of Hong Kong, was commonly known as part of Victoria City. It is an area on the north shore of Hong Kong Island. It is located across Victoria Harbour from Tsim Sha Tsui, the southernmost point of Kowloon Peninsula...
- within the
Hong Kong ParkThe Hong Kong Park is a public park next to Cotton Tree Drive in Central, Hong Kong. It covers an area of 80,000 m² and is an example of modern design and facilities blending with natural landscape.-History:...
.
It has been a longtime residence of the Commander of the British forces in Hong Kong during colonial times. Today Flagstaff House houses the
Museum of Tea Ware. The building is a popular setting for
wedding photographyWedding photography is the photography of activities relating to weddings. It encompasses photographs of the couple before marriage as well as coverage of the wedding and reception...
.
History
Flagstaff House had been named as
Headquarter House until 1932. There is some disagreement as to who designed it, but it was completed in 1846 and initially served as the military headquarters office and residence of the
Commander of the British forces in Hong KongBritish Forces Overseas Hong Kong consisted of the elements of the British Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force. Much of the British military left Hong Kong prior to the handover in 1997. The present article focuses mainly on the British garrison in Hong Kong in the post Second World War era...
. The site chosen was a small buff above
the barracksThere are several Victoria Barracks in the world.*Victoria Barracks, Windsor Castle*Victoria Barracks, Melbourne*Victoria Barracks, Hong Kong*Victoria Barracks, Sydney*Victoria Barracks, Brisbane...
and above
Queen's RoadQueen's Road is the first road in Hong Kong built by the Government of Hong Kong between 1841 and 1843, spanning across Victoria City from Shek Tong Tsui to Wan Chai...
, then at the waterfront.
The building was designed in
Greek revival styleThe Greek Revival was an architectural movement of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States. A product of Hellenism, it may be looked upon as the last phase in the development of Neoclassical architecture...
. Historians suspect it was designed either by Murdoch Bruce, a Scottish who was inspector of buildings, or by Lieutenant Bernard, collinson of the
SappersThe Corps of Royal Engineers, usually just called the Royal Engineers , and commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps of the British Army. It provides combat engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces...
. The first occupant was Major-General
George Charles D'AguilarMajor-General Sir George Charles D'Aguilar, KCB was a British Army Major General and Lieutenant Governor of Hong Kong.- Military Service :Son of Solomon d'Aguilar of Liverpool and Margaret Gillmer...
, General Officer Commanding from 1844 to 1846 who also held the post of
Lieutenant GovernorA lieutenant governor or lieutenant-governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction, but often the deputy or lieutenant to or ranking under a governor - a "second-in-command." In many Commonwealth of Nations states, lieutenant governors are usually deputy heads...
.
The west and east wings were shelled during the
Japanese invasionThe Battle of Hong Kong took place during the Pacific campaign of World War II. It began on 8 December 1941 and ended on Christmas Day with Hong Kong, then a Crown colony, surrendering to Empire of Japan.-Background:...
, and it suffered bomb damage. The
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese repaired it and the Commandant took the building as his residence during
the occupationThe Japanese occupation of Hong Kong began after the Governor of Hong Kong, Sir Mark Young surrendered the territory of Hong Kong to Japan on 25 December, 1941 after 18 days of fierce fighting by British and Canadian defenders against overwhelming Japanese Imperial forces...
.
After the
warThe Pacific War was the part of World War II—and preceding conflicts—that took place in the Pacific Ocean, its islands, and in East Asia. The war began as a conflict with the Empire of Japan and the Republic of China on July 7, 1937, but by December 1941, became part of the greater World War II,...
, Flagstaff House was again the Commander's residence until 1978, when the Commander moved to a purpose built house on Barker Road. It was handed over by the military to the civilian Hong Kong Government as part of the surrender of
Victoria BarracksThe Victoria Barracks were a barracks in the Admiralty district of Central on Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. The barracks were constructed between the 1840s and 1874, and situated within the area bounded by Cotton Tree Drive, Kennedy Road and Queensway, Hong Kong. The Barracks with Murray Barracks,...
. The Government put it under the responsibility of the Urban Council in 1981.
The building was
declared a monumentDeclared monuments of Hong Kong are places, structures or buildings legally declared to be "protected". In Hong Kong, declaring a monument requires consulting the Antiquities Advisory Board, the approval of the Chief Executive as well as the publication of the notice in government gazette.As of 18...
in 1989. It was restored as far as possible to its original mid-19th-century appearance, structurally reinforced, and the interior was to be modified so that it could be used as a museum.
Museum of Tea Ware
In 1984, the Flagstaff House was converted into the Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware, a branch
museumA museum is a building or institution which houses a collection of artifacts.Museums collect and care for objects of scientific, artistic, or historical importance and make them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary...
of the
Hong Kong Museum of ArtThe Hong Kong Museum of Art is a museum in Hong Kong for Chinese cultural heritage, as well as local and international art. The museum was established as the City Hall Museum and Art Gallery in the City Hall in Central by the Urban Council in 1962...
. The museum specializes in the collection, study and display of
teawareTeaware is the entire spectrum of equipment used in the production of tea. Many components make up that spectrum, and vary greatly based upon the type of tea being prepared, and the cultural setting in which it is bring prepared...
, including many samples of the
YixingYixing is a county-level city in Jiangsu province, in eastern China with a population of one million. It is well-known for its Yixing clay to make Yixing clay teapot teapots and bamboo forests. Administratively it is part of the city of Wuxi.-External links:* *...
teapotA teapot is a vessel used for steeping tea leaves or an herbal mix in near-boiling water. Tea may be either in a tea bag or loose, in which case a tea strainer will be needed, either to hold the leaves as they steep or to catch the leaves inside the teapot when the tea is poured...
, from
Jiangsu' is a province of the People's Republic of China, located along the east coast of the country. The name comes from jiang, short for the city of Jiangning , and su, for the city of Suzhou...
Province of
ChinaChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
, as well as the world's oldest known extant teapot.
A new wing, the
K.S. Lo Gallery, was added in 1995. It is named after a local collector, which made a donation to the city in the 1970s. This donation now constitutes the core of the museum's collection. The new gallery contains a collection of
ceramicsIn art history, ceramics and ceramic art mean art objects such as figures, tiles, and tableware made from clay and other raw materials by the process of pottery, so excluding glass and also mosaic, normally made from glass tesserae...
and Chinese seals.
See also
- Hong Kong tea culture
The tea-drinking habits of Hong Kong residents derive from Chinese tea culture. After more than 150 years of British rule, however, they have changed somewhat to become unique in the world...
- Museums in Hong Kong
- List of buildings and structures in Hong Kong
- List of urban public parks and gardens of Hong Kong
- History of Hong Kong
Hong Kong began as a coastal island geographically located in southern China. While pockets of settlements had taken place in the region with archaeological findings dating back thousands of years, regularly written records were not made until the engagement of Imperial China and the British Colony...
External links