, completed in 1912, once used as the building of
Legislative Council of Hong Kong from 1985 to 2011. The British landed on
Possession Point of
Sheung Wan in 1841. They soon decided to build a city on the north coast of Hong Kong Island, and the present-day Central was chosen to house major military facilities and an administrative centre. Part of these military facilities include the
Royal Navy port known as Naval Dockyard, and then later Admiralty. Another area to the north of Admiralty would be named
Tamar for the
HMS Tamar shore station (named for HMS Tamar, a Royal Navy troopship that arrived and was used as a shore base during the
second opium war). The area soon attracted both
Westerners and Chinese to trade and live in the area, and a Canton Bazaar (the precursor of the
Central Market) was built between
Cochrane Street and
Graham Street in 1842. The area was soon zoned for Westerners only, and Chinese residents were restricted to Sheung Wan. It was zoned for "Western-style buildings," meaning buildings with space requirements and hygiene standards similar to European. The area was largely dominated by the presence of Victoria City. The popularity of this area would also boost the
population of Hong Kong from 5,000 in 1841 to 24,000 in 1848.
Government House and other
Hong Kong Government buildings were completed during this period on
Government Hill. Various
barracks, naval bases and the residence of the
Commander of British Forces in Hong Kong,
Flagstaff House were built on the east end of the district. Between 1860 and 1880 the construction of
City Hall, Theatre Royal and other financial structures made Central the heart of Hong Kong. In 1904, the
Praya Reclamation Scheme added of land to Central's waterfront. Many of the proposals came from
Sir Paul Chater and
James Johnstone Keswick, the founders of
Hongkong Land, a modern property development group. During the 1920s, Hong Kong was able to push far ahead economically, because of the cohesive collaboration between Central and all waterfront commerce. The military structures survived until the 1980s. Only Flagstaff House remains as Museum of Tea Ware in
Hong Kong Park.
City Hall sat on the present premises of the
HSBC Hong Kong headquarters. Hong Kong's first road,
Queen's Road (subdivided into
Queen's Road East,
Central, and
West), passes through the area and the business centre has continued to expand the Hong Kong shoreline into Victoria Harbour. The
Hong Kong Garrison was home to the
British Forces in Hong Kong, until the
handover in 1997, since then it has been occupied by the
People's Liberation Army of China. Central has been the site of a number of major political protests. From October 2011 to September 2012, the
Occupy Central movement against global economic inequality was based in front of the
HSBC Main Building. Two years later, in September 2014, democratic activists initiated
Occupy Central with Love and Peace, demanding
universal suffrage for the election of the
Chief Executive of Hong Kong, eventually contributing to the
Umbrella Revolution. ==Economy==