bank
Photograph of the ground floor banking hall.
Another view of the ground floor banking hall.
original premises, the total floor area was only about 6.000 square feet, and yielded a rent of $870 per month. The total floor area in the new building is approximately 27.700 square feet.
was the totally inadequate interesting point is that in the The entrance to the Bank is in the accommodation in the old premises, which were situated almost opposite, owing to the rapid expansion of the neighbourhood; in fact, the new pre- mises are more than twice as large as the old. As a rough indication of the increase of business from late 1948 until early 1952. current accounts in- creased ten times and the number and amounts of savings accounts more than five times.
The premises previously occupying the site of the new Bank were erect ed in 1920 and for many years before the Pacific War housed the Mongkok Fire Station. The building was a two- storeyed structure comprising five houses, with shops on the ground floor and living accommodation on the first floor.
It may be interesting to note that the lot, which comprises 4,816 square feet. was sold in 1920 for $7.224, which was roughly $1.70 per square foot. A plece of land not very far from this lot was sold by public auc- tion in December 1951 for about $80 per square foot. When The Hong- kong Bank became the landlords of this property in 1947 at a cost of $200,000, the price worked out at roughly $40 per square foot. Another
centre of the Nathan Road frontage through a vestibule to the public space. This is enclosed on three sides by the counters for the transaction of business behind which is the staff working area. To the left of the entrance is a private staircase lead- ing down to the basement and up to the other floors occupied by the bank. and a manager's room. To the right of the back of the building is a ser- vice entrance from the lane, a service lobby and toilet facilities, a second private Bank staircase and a book
vault.
The new building consists of a basement and eight storeys with a penthouse on the roof. The most noticeable feature of the planning is the very economic use made of the valuable and rather restricted space allowed by the site. The building is completely air-conditioned with the main plant in the basement.
The bank itself occupies the The main office entrance is at the ground, first and second floors with right of the building on the Nathan the vaults and a safe-deposit with Road elevation and leads into a lob- some 4.000 lockers in the basement. by with two lifts and a staircase to The basement floor. which contains serve the upper office floors. There three entirely independent sections is a secondary office entrance from the Bank's vaults, the safe deposit and the machinery room, each of which had to have its own staircase approach from the banking hall level has been ably planned by the architects. The third to seventh floors inclusive are rented to outside tenants. On the eighth floor, or flat roof, there is a penthouse to accom- modate one of the Bank's officials and a flat for a caretaker, which has just been completed.
Argyle Street near the back of the north side of the building: this opens into a lobby from which there are doors to the Bank and to the trans- former room and a secondary office staircase. At the back of the build- ing is a lane from which access may be had to the basement by means of a covered way.
On the upper floors the lift lobby, lifts, main staircase, service rooms
The banking hall from the entrance.
Photograph of the cash enclosure.
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