Bank of China Tower (Hong Kong)

The Bank of China Tower (BOC Tower) is a famous skyscraper in Central, Hong Kong. It is located at 1 Garden Road on Hong Kong Island and serves as the headquarters of the Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited. The building is well-known for its unique shape, with triangular frameworks covered by glass walls.

Designed by Chinese-American architect I. M. Pei and L. C. Pei of I. M. Pei and Partners, the tower stands 315 metres (1,033.5 feet) tall, reaching up to 367.4 metres (1,205.4 feet) with its spire. It is the fourth tallest skyscraper in Hong Kong, after the International Commerce Centre, Two International Finance Centre, and Central Plaza. For a short time, it was the tallest building in Hong Kong and Asia.

Construction started on 18 April 1985 on the site where Murray House once stood and finished in 1990. The building has a steel-column design and is close to the Central station on the MTR. It is situated between Cotton Tree Drive and Garden Road.

History

The site where the Bank of China Tower stands used to be home to Murray House, which was moved brick-by-brick to Stanley. The government sold this spot for only HK$1 billion in August 1982, which caused some concern about Hong Kong's future before it was handed over.

The building was first built by the Hong Kong Branch of the Bank of China. The top four floors and the bottom 19 floors are used by the bank, while other floors are rented out. Although ownership was transferred to BOCHK, the Bank of China still uses some floors there.

Construction began in May 1986, led by a Japanese company called Kumagai Gumi. The tower is made from steel. The events in Tiananmen Square in 1989 stopped plans to show off the building's special design. Because of delays, building started almost two years late in March 1985. The tower was finally finished in June 1990.

Architecture

Designed by award-winning architect I. M. Pei, the Bank of China Tower stands 315 meters (1,033.5 feet) tall, with two masts reaching up to 367.4 meters (1,205.4 feet). Located near the Central MTR station, it was once the tallest building in Hong Kong and Asia. It was also the first building outside the United States to rise higher than 305 meters (1,000 feet).

The tower has 72 floors and is supported by four strong steel columns at its corners. Its unique design features triangular shapes and glass walls. Although it is now the fourth tallest skyscraper in Hong Kong, the building remains one of the city's most famous landmarks.

Transport

The Bank of China Tower is easy to reach using the Mass Transit Railway (MTR). You can walk from Central station Exit J2 through Chater Garden to get there.

In popular culture

The Bank of China Tower has appeared in many movies and games. In the 1988 film Police Story 2, the building was shown while it was still being built. It also appeared in Star Trek: Voyager as the outside of a research center, and in the attraction It's a Small World at Hong Kong Disneyland.

The tower has been part of several exciting stories. In Transformers: Age of Extinction, characters fought against a bad robot there. It also showed up in games like SimCity 3000 and SimCity 4 as a special landmark. In the 2021 movie Godzilla vs. Kong, the tower was seen during a big battle but remained standing.