Ladder Streets

Ladder streets are narrow streets in Hong Kong comprising steps. Most are found between Central and Sheung Wan and Mid-Levels on Hong Kong Island, from Queen's Road Central, through Hollywood Road and a few other cross streets, to Caine Road at the Mid-Levels. Other ladder streets exist outside of the immediate Mid-Levels area, such as Sands Street in Kennedy Town.

Note that there is indeed a street named Ladder Street, composed entirely of stone steps, in Sheung Wan.

While some ladder streets are made only of traditional steps, some at a moderate incline have portions that could be traversed with a rickshaw or cart. These portions had raised stones perpendicular to the street at regular intervals acting like a ratchet so that carts and rickshaws could be easily stopped and parked. This kind of paving can be found on Pottinger Street.

The Duddell Street steps were declared a monument by the Antiquities and Monuments Office.Declared Monuments in Hong Kong.
Antiquities & Monuments Office, Leisure & Cultural Services Department, Government. 13 October 2017. Retrieved 2018-02-07.

History

Shortly after their arrival in Hong Kong, the British built administrative buildings on the northern shore of the island, in the area which came to be called Victoria and later called Central. The water met the island at what is now Queen's Road. There was no flat land, so during the brief tenure of Sir Henry Pottinger, the first governor of the colony, from 1841 to 1844, streets of steps were planned. The first recorded ladder street was built between Queen's Road and Gough Street in 1845. Remaining ladder streets steps are some of the very oldest structures in the territory.

The streets were originally made with the local pink granite. Most have been replaced with concrete.

Ladder streets

File:Old Pottinger Street.jpg, Pottinger St 1930s
File:Pottinger Street.JPG, Pottinger St 2005
File:HongKong street.JPG, Mee Lun St 2005
File:Aberdeen Street at Queen's Road Central.jpg, Aberdeen St 2006
File:HK SW Pound Lane stairs.jpg, Pound Ln 2006
File:HK Hollywood Rd old shoe maker.jpg, Lane off Hollywood Rd 2006
File:Sands Street, Hong Kong 1.jpg, Sands St 2007
File:HK Sheung Wan Tai Ping Shan Street Kwong Fook I Tsz 2.JPG, Tai Ping Shan St 2008
File:HK TaiPingShanStreet Steps.JPG, Tai Ping Shan St 2008
File:Sands street stairs.jpg, Sands St 2009
File:HK Sheung Wan Hollywood Road Mee Lun Street Stone Icon 03.JPG, Mee Lun St 2009
File:Duddell Street Steps and Gas Lamps.JPG, Duddell St 2013
File:Sands Street Pedestrian Link (escalator).JPG, Sands St 2014
File:HK 北角半山 North Point Mid-Levels 雲景道 41 Cloud View Road Wan Tin Path outside stairs Apr-2014 view 雲景大廈 Glen Circuit.JPG, Wan Tin Path 2014
File:HK Sheung Wan 上環 磅巷 Pound Lane stairs tree Feb-2016 DSC 008.JPG, Pound Ln 2016
File:HK 上環 Sheung Wan 樓梯街 Ladder Street stairs October 2017 IX1 construction site.jpg, Ladder St 2017

See also

* Central–Mid-Levels escalator
* Step street

References

External links

Travel in the Far East
from Time Magazine
Hong Kong Street Markets
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* {{cite web , url=https://stairculture.com/archive/stair/tung-street/ , title=Stairs of Tung Street / Queen's Road Central to Tai Ping Shan Street , last= , first= , date= 2 March 2016, website=Hong Kong Stair Archive , publisher=Stair Culture , access-date= , quote=

Central, Hong Kong
Sheung Wan

Types of streets