ENG-1957 — Page 40

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To build multi-storey office blocks, such

as the Alexandra House, piles may have to be sunk to a depth of 40 feet or more in order to reach a water-tight stratum. The actual composition of old reclamations, of which no data now exist, may also hamper the builder. Pile-driving on the Alexandra House site was impeded by the presence of enor- mous boulders weighing up to five tons each.

Nowhere is the picture of change more striking than in the area around Statue Square, the city centre of Victoria. From upper windows of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank building, which still dominates the southern side of the square, the pattern of changes present and changes yet to come may conveniently be seen. Parallel with the Bank and to its right stands the tall pile of the Bank of China, com- pleted in 1951. To the left, the steel framework of another great bank building-the Chartered Bank-is being bolted together and will eventually rise even higher than either of its neighbours. Below are the gardens of the square—now ex- tending over only half the area they occupied as late as 1950, for most of the northern portion of the square has become a great car park. North again, the available land area has been pushed out another 400 feet with the completion of the first phase of the new central reclamation. On the seaward limit of this land are the new piers of the Star Ferry, serving the 100,000 or so commuters who cross the harbour daily. Between the piers and the former limits of the square stands a modern-style three-level car park accommodating some 420 cars. Another, smaller tiered car park, to take 200 or so vehicles, is now being built on the eastern corner of the reclamation. To east and west of the square lie the great office blocks of the Victorian and Edwardian eras. Upon many of these sentence of demolition and reconstruction has already been passed. The eastern side of the square is likely to maintain its 'old-fashioned' character a little longer. For here are the Courts of Justice, built in an Italian style, and the Hong Kong Club, built in a solid 'colonial' style. The