World-Wide House is an office building in

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known a ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...

. It is located between

Connaught Road Central Connacht ( ; ga, Connachta or ), is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, Conmhaícne, and Delbh ...

Pedder Street Pedder Street is a major thoroughfare in the core of Hong Kong's Central District. It runs south–north from Queen's Road Central, continues through Des Voeux Road Central, and ends at its intersection with Connaught Road Central. History ...

and

Des Voeux Road Central Des is a masculine given name, mostly a short form (hypocorism) of Desmond. People named Des include: People * Des Buckingham, English football manager * Des Corcoran, (1928–2004), Australian politician * Des Dillon (disambiguation), severa ...

History

The site is situated on land reclaimed at the turn of the 20th century. WWH was constructed on a siteMalcolm Surry
Metro's role in the property game
''South China Morning Post'', 16 July 1976 vacated by the former

General Post Office The General Post Office (GPO) was the state postal system and telecommunications carrier of the United Kingdom until 1969. Before the Acts of Union 1707, it was the postal system of the Kingdom of England, established by Charles II in 1660. ...

, which was located there from 1911 to 1976. The GPO was relocated to Connaught Place for the construction of the Pedder station (later renamed to

) of

MTR The Mass Transit Railway (MTR) is a major public transport network serving :Hong Kong. Operated by the MTR Corporation Limited (MTRCL), it consists of heavy rail, light rail, and feeder bus service centred on a 10-line rapid transit network ...

. Below the building is the interchange of

Hong Kong station Hong Kong () is a station of the MTR metro system in Hong Kong. It is the eastern terminus of the and . It is situated between Man Cheung Street and Harbour View Street, Central, Hong Kong Island, and sits underneath the International Financ ...

and

Central station Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...

of MTR. In the early 1970s, there were proposals for the site to be swapped for the

Alexandra House Alexandra House () is an office building in Central, Hong Kong near Central station. The building has 37 levels. It hosts a shopping arcade, Landmark Alexandra, and it is connected to the Central Elevated Walkway. The block formed by Alexan ...

plot, to create more open space in Central, and be pedestrianised. The proposals were defeated mainly due to financial considerations.

MTR Corporation MTR Corporation Limited is a majority government-owned public transport operator and property developer in Hong Kong which operates the Mass Transit Railway, the most popular public transport network in Hong Kong. It is listed on the Hon ...

, which had been given the first refusal on the site, paid the

Hong Kong Government The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, commonly known as the Hong Kong Government or HKSAR Government, refers to the executive authorities of Hong Kong SAR. It was formed on 1 July 1997 in accordance with the Sino- ...

approximately HK$212 million in cash for the rights for the site. The Government ended up receiving some $8,700 per square foot instead of its initial asking price of $10,000.GPO site cost $212m

South China Morning Post The ''South China Morning Post'' (''SCMP''), with its Sunday edition, the ''Sunday Morning Post'', is a Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper owned by Alibaba Group. Founded in 1903 by Tse Tsan-tai and Alfred Cunningham, it has remained ...

, 6 April 1977

Cheung Kong Cheung Kong (Holdings) Limited, is a multinational conglomerate, based in Hong Kong. It was one of Hong Kong's leading multi-national conglomerates. The company merged with its subsidiary Hutchison Whampoa on 3 June 2015, as part of a ma ...

, the enterprise founded by

Li Ka-shing Sir Ka-shing Li (; born 13 June 1928) is a Hong Kong billionaire business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. As of June 2019, Li is the 31st richest person in the world, with an estimated net wealth of US$33.4 billion. He is the senior ad ...

, obtained the right for the development of the above-ground structure. With a plot ratio of 15:1, CKH built a 32-storey single tower office-cum-commercial building. The arcade is connected to adjacent properties by the Central Elevated Walkway. Office premises are both available for lease and for sale in World Wide House. Office size are various from 500 sq. ft. to 40,000 sq. ft.

Shopping arcade

World-Wide Plaza is the shopping centre on 3 levels on the lower floors of Worldwide House. It is built in an " atrium" style, but without skylight. Its first level is accessible from the Central Elevated Walkway or by escalator from the ground floor of the building. The kiosks or shop units are typically from around 10 square metres, and are rented out to small traders, who sell telecommunications and banking services, to food, and magazines. The arcade is popular with the large Filipino population, particularly on Sundays, as many of the shops are run by their compatriots. The wide assortment of typically small shops caters to their needs, selling merchandise from their homeland. Thus, the arcade is also known as the

Chungking Mansions Chungking Mansions is a building located at 36–44 Nathan Road in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Though the building was supposed to be residential, it is made up of many independent low-budget hotels, shops and other services. As we ...

of Central.

Gallery

File:World Wide House Office Entrance 201506.jpg, The Office entrance of World-Wide House File:Interior of World-wide House shopping arcade.jpg, Interior of World-Wide Plaza File:HK World Wide House Shopping Aracde Corridor.jpg, Filipinos selling and purchasing VCDs in World-Wide Plaza, Central.

References

{{Coord, 22, 16, 57, N, 114, 9, 28.44, E, display=title Central, Hong Kong Shopping centres in Hong Kong