1. The History
The Hong Kong Central Hospital was a former not-for-profit, general private hospital, located in the Central area of Hong Kong Island. The building that housed it was built to the designs of Yuan-Hsi Kuo, one of China's first-generation of formally trained architects. The seven-storey building was based on a reinforced concrete frame construction and built in the Modernist or International Modern style and undoubtedly influenced by Germany’s Bauhaus school of art in the 1920s.
The land was provided by the Anglican church in 1966, in an attempt to help doctors fleeing the mainland carry on their practices. The hospital’s mission statement was “to deliver high-quality health care services to meet the needs and expectations of the public”. It was a member of the Hong Kong Private Hospitals Association (HKPHA). It offered a wide range of medical services and at its peak was responsible for over half of all abortions carried out in Hong Kong. Facilities included a Special Care Unit (with 4-single-bed rooms), a Physiotherapy Department and a varied range of Out-Patient Services and numerous Polyclinic services and an Endoscopy Centre was located on the 7th floor. In-care prices were graded with a daily rate of HK$600 (£60) for a stay in a 3rd Class General Ward rising up to HK$2,800 (£280) for a first-class private room (based on 2018 prices).
This all started to come to an end in 2009, when a dispute of the hospital’s tenancy broke out. A court case with the landlord, the Anglican Church, ensued and the hospital finally closed its doors to patients on 1st September 2012 and most of the medical equipment was subsequently sold off. Hospital bosses were informed they would have to make way for an $800 million museum and gallery, which never materialised. Plans for the site's reconstruction were submitted in January 2017 which included the construction of a 25-storey non-profit hospital. However over six years later, the former hospital still remains in a state of decay and abandonment.
2. The Explore
Done quite a lot of exploring in HK over the years so am a little puzzled how this place evaded me until recently, especially given it’s been abandoned for around 10 years. Looking on the site, there’s just the one report from Dr Howser from March 2015 (see HERE). When the good doctor went three years after closure the place was pretty mint. Since then, the place has been pretty much trashed. Despite that thought, there’s still plenty to see if you look behind the havoc the local chavs have rained down on the place.
Entry was easier than expected and a lot less of a challenge than the route in I’d been told about. Once in, I had the place to myself and worked my way through the seven floors. However, by the fourth or fifth floor, it was all getting a bit repetitive.
3. The Pictures
View from the front of shop:
Plenty of air con units still in situ:
Nothing too special, architecturally:
Starting at the bottom and the entrance foyer:
Stainless Steel utensils cabinet:
Records room:
Some random comics:
Fee board:
Plenty of decay:
Old safe:
Old PC:
Up the stairs off the other side is the CT scanner:
Up a floor we go:
The Library area:
Up a floor:
This made me jump:
The Hong Kong Central Hospital was a former not-for-profit, general private hospital, located in the Central area of Hong Kong Island. The building that housed it was built to the designs of Yuan-Hsi Kuo, one of China's first-generation of formally trained architects. The seven-storey building was based on a reinforced concrete frame construction and built in the Modernist or International Modern style and undoubtedly influenced by Germany’s Bauhaus school of art in the 1920s.
The land was provided by the Anglican church in 1966, in an attempt to help doctors fleeing the mainland carry on their practices. The hospital’s mission statement was “to deliver high-quality health care services to meet the needs and expectations of the public”. It was a member of the Hong Kong Private Hospitals Association (HKPHA). It offered a wide range of medical services and at its peak was responsible for over half of all abortions carried out in Hong Kong. Facilities included a Special Care Unit (with 4-single-bed rooms), a Physiotherapy Department and a varied range of Out-Patient Services and numerous Polyclinic services and an Endoscopy Centre was located on the 7th floor. In-care prices were graded with a daily rate of HK$600 (£60) for a stay in a 3rd Class General Ward rising up to HK$2,800 (£280) for a first-class private room (based on 2018 prices).
This all started to come to an end in 2009, when a dispute of the hospital’s tenancy broke out. A court case with the landlord, the Anglican Church, ensued and the hospital finally closed its doors to patients on 1st September 2012 and most of the medical equipment was subsequently sold off. Hospital bosses were informed they would have to make way for an $800 million museum and gallery, which never materialised. Plans for the site's reconstruction were submitted in January 2017 which included the construction of a 25-storey non-profit hospital. However over six years later, the former hospital still remains in a state of decay and abandonment.
2. The Explore
Done quite a lot of exploring in HK over the years so am a little puzzled how this place evaded me until recently, especially given it’s been abandoned for around 10 years. Looking on the site, there’s just the one report from Dr Howser from March 2015 (see HERE). When the good doctor went three years after closure the place was pretty mint. Since then, the place has been pretty much trashed. Despite that thought, there’s still plenty to see if you look behind the havoc the local chavs have rained down on the place.
Entry was easier than expected and a lot less of a challenge than the route in I’d been told about. Once in, I had the place to myself and worked my way through the seven floors. However, by the fourth or fifth floor, it was all getting a bit repetitive.
3. The Pictures
View from the front of shop:
Plenty of air con units still in situ:
Nothing too special, architecturally:
Starting at the bottom and the entrance foyer:
Stainless Steel utensils cabinet:
Records room:
Some random comics:
Fee board:
Plenty of decay:
Old safe:
Old PC:
Up the stairs off the other side is the CT scanner:
Up a floor we go:
The Library area:
Up a floor:
This made me jump:
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