Duddell Street (都爹利街)

Background

Duddell street steps and gas lamps are located near the Lan Kwai Fong District, which leads up to Ice House Street and Queen‘s Road Central. It was named by the landowners in the period of the colony, the brothers George and Frederick Duddell.

It was built between 1875 and 1899, steps are made of granite with four gas lamps which are placed in pairs at both ends on the balustrades of the steps. Such lamps are the last four remaining gas lantern lights in Hong Kong and are listed as Declared Monuments of Hong Kong.

Historical value

The street is full of historic and vintage atmospheres. The four gas lamps are still using town gas to operate nowadays by Hong Kong and China Gas Company as objects of historical interest. Also, many films and movies are taken here. For example, Outbound Love" (單戀雙城) and "Heart of Greed" (溏心風暴).

It shows the characteristics of 19th-century of Hong Kong, the real features of the gas lamp in ancient.

The change between ancient and the present

In the past, gas lamps are operated manually, but now they operate automatically, due to the electrification of street lights in Hong Kong since 1967.

On 16 September 2018, the steps and gas lamps are severely damaged by typhoon Mangkhut. The project team used advanced 3D scanning to restore the monument successfully on 23 December 2019.