PMQ - Police Flats Turned Design Hub
Photo: Nick-D, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
A stop on Hong Kong: Star Ferry to the Peak, a free self-guided tour.
These two long blocks facing each other across a courtyard were built in 1951 as the Police Married Quarters, homes for married police officers and their families. That is where the name PMQ comes from.
The site has an older story. In 1889 the government Central School moved here, a school whose former pupils included Sun Yat-sen; it was later renamed Queen's College. The school building was badly damaged during the Japanese occupation and its remains were cleared in 1948, making way for the police flats.
After the police families moved out, the flats were restored and reopened in 2014 as a hub for local design. Around 100 former apartments now hold studios, galleries and small shops selling work by Hong Kong makers, from jewelry to homeware, plus restaurants and cafes. Wander the open corridors, where the old flat doorways have become shop fronts, and look out for exhibitions and the occasional night market in the courtyard.
Getting here: Walk back east along Hollywood Road for about 3 minutes; PMQ fills the block at the corner of Aberdeen Street.
Did you know?: The school that once stood here was called the Central School, then Victoria College, and finally Queen's College from 1894.
Photo op: Climb to an upper corridor and shoot across the courtyard to the opposite block, its stacked walkways lined with shop fronts.
More on Wikipedia: PMQ · Queen's College, Hong Kong · Sun Yat-sen
Stops on this tour
- Clock Tower - Last Call for the Kowloon Terminus
- Avenue of Stars - Hong Kong Cinema by the Harbor
- Star Ferry - Ten Minutes Across Victoria Harbour
- Statue Square - Named for Statues Mostly Gone
- Court of Final Appeal - Justice on a Timber Raft
- HSBC and Bank of China - Two Banks, Two Landmarks
- Mid-Levels Escalator - Riding Uphill Through SoHo
- Man Mo Temple - Incense Coils on Hollywood Road
- PMQ - Police Flats Turned Design Hub
- Tai Kwun - Police Station, Court and Jail
- Peak Tram - Asia's First Funicular
- Victoria Peak - The View That Built a Neighborhood