Founded in Hong Kong in 1874, Leigh & Orange began as a company called
Sharp & Danby. It took two decades and four name changes, including
Danby & Leigh and
Danby, Leigh & Orange, for the firm to evolve step by step, into Leigh & Orange. Having "enormous faith in the future of Hong-Kong", Granville Sharp had morphed into a major land dealer and acquired the nickname "the notorious professional philanthropist and champion land jobber". Connections were key to success. One close friend of Sharp's,
Sir Paul Chater, helped support the firm with commissions. Another fellow member of the
Masonic Lodge was the newly arrived William Danby (1842–1908), a qualified engineer and architect who worked as
Clerk of Works in the
Surveyor General's Office. By 1874 Sharp and Danby had agreed to a partnership; Sharp providing the land and Danby deciding what to build on it. Success brought growth and eventually, new partners. Mr Sharp left the firm in 1880,
Robert K. Leigh joined in 1882 and Mr James Orange in 1890. The early projects helped establish a reputation for institutional or 'public' work, such as Mr Danby's design for the Clock Tower Fountain in Statue Square. When Danby left the firm in 1894, its name altered to Leigh & Orange, and then stayed that way. During the 1890s, a period of intense construction ensued, spurred by the
Praya Reclamation Scheme, which gave the city a large chunk of what is now
Central's core land base between
Des Voeux and
Connaught roads. The architecture of the new buildings situated in this area expressed the gothic/classical style of the era, many with ground floor arcades to shelter from rain and sun. By now Leigh & Orange, encouraged by the patronage of Sir Paul Chater, was considered the prime architectural office of the colony. Where the Mandarin Oriental Hotel now stands, the firm built the
Queen's Building, L&O designed the Sai Ying Poon School and the North Point Primary School. The Saint Francis School for the Canossian Mission soon followed, then a new wing for the Saint Mary's School in Austen Road, Kowloon. 1954 marked the company's commissioning for the new
Jockey Club building in Happy Valley, which had to be constructed at a frantic pace to fit into the racing season. The building's superstructure was erected at the rate of one floor every eight days, and followed the design of the grandstand at Bangkok. Both buildings were judged highly successful. The 'modern' era was a busy one for the firm, with projects ranging across the programmatic map, and the geographical one. Many modern landmark buildings were constructed, and a new direction – or literally many directions – marked the firm's growth. In 1990, Leigh & Orange established their
Bangkok office. Since then it has opened offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Yangon. This new regionalism has provided the firm with a plethora of opportunities and commissions across Asia and across programme types. Meanwhile, projects such as
Ocean Park,
Tuen Mun Hospital and Gaia restaurant, all in Hong Kong, widened the firm's reference base. L&O has landed multiple sports buildings in the Middle East, and large scale residential and office projects in mainland China. There are also more occasional briefs, such as the Integer Pavilion, an environmental experiment set up on the waterfront
Tamar site. In 2009: a huge addition of buildings to the Hong Kong Science Park, in its Phase 2. The firm enjoys long standing working relationships with clients such as the
Hongkong Electric Company and the
Hong Kong Jockey Club. ==Directors==