No.1 Police Station
Built in 1853, it was located at the present junction of Leighton Road and Percival Street, where the PCCW Eastern Tower now stands. Today, that area is very busy with pedestrians and traffic, but it was very isolated and quiet a century and a half ago. Why a police station was built there in the first place?
Not far away from the No. 1 Police Station was East Point. It was so named because of its principal physical feature as a small headland extending into the harbour. The present day East Point Road commemorates this feature which has long since disappeared. Since the British settlement in Hong Kong in 1841, East Point had been the main base of Jardine, Matheson & Co. Extensive godowns, an ice depot and a sugar refinery were built there by the company. A luxurious Number One House for the Jardine's taipan was also erected on East Point Hill (also known as Goose-Head Hill). The main entrance to the taipan's quarters was just opposite the No. 1 Police Station. In 1923, a famous local Chinese merchant Hysan Lee purchased East Point Hill from Jardine, Matheson & Co., and renamed it Lee Garden Hill. It was subsequently levelled for real estate development, only leaving Lee Garden Road as a memento of this piece of history. From the businesses in this location, it is not difficult to understand that why the police station was built in this site.
No. 1 Police Station was demolished in mid-1930s. This photo was taken shortly after the demolition programme had started, otherwise we would have no idea what this police station once looked like.
