Legislative Council Building

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The Legislative Council Building viewed from across Chater Road. The Bank of China Building and the HSBC Main Building are visible in the background.

Statue Square facade of the Legislative Council Building.

On the south side [of Statue Square] stands the New Law Courts. It was designed in England, and the only feature of note is the inartistic roof. Like all buildings erected by the Government, the edifice has been in course of construction nearly 15 years, and is still not completed. All the granite used in the construction of this massive block of buildings is the product of the Island and the mainland.

—Picturesque Hong Kong: a handbook for travellers. Hong Kong: Tillotson & Sons. 1911. pp.67-68^[1]

Classical architecture was used in the design of the Building.

The Legislative Council Building (Chinese: 立法會大樓, former 立法局大樓) of Hong Kong, also called the Former Supreme Court Building (前最高法院大樓), was the home of the former Supreme Court until 1985, when it was renamed and became home to the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. Members of the Council and the President have offices in this building. It is located in Central Hong Kong, along the eastern side of Statue Square, directly west of Chater Garden.

The Exterior of the Old Supreme Court is one of the declared monuments of Hong Kong.

[edit] History

The building was designed by Sir Aston Webb and Ingress Bell, the British architect responsible for the eastern façade of Buckingham Palace and the Cromwell Road frontage of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

It was built on reclaimed land, and opened on 15 January 1912. The two-storey granite building is neo-classical in style supported by Ionic columns. It is surmounted by a blind-folded statue of Justice, represented by the Themis,^[2] the Greek Goddess of Justice and Law. This statue is a replica of the one erected on the Old Bailey of London.

During the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong (December 1941 to August 1945), the building was used as the headquarters of the Kempeitai (Military Police).^[3]

In 1978, this building was severely affected by the construction of MTR; therefore, it had to undergo some restoration afterwards.

For a time in the 1980s, the Supreme Court was moved to the Former French Mission Building, which was then used by the Victoria District Court.

The Supreme Court of Hong Kong was moved to the Supreme Court Building, Hong Kong after 1985 and remained there until 1997. It is now renamed the High Court Building.

Following the move to the Tamar site in 2011, the current building will revert to the home to the Court of Final Appeal.^[4]

[edit] Previous homes of the Legislative Council

Before 1985, the Legco met at other locations:

Former French Mission Building 1843–1846
Caine Road 1846–?
Government House, Hong Kong 1855; used ballroom after 1891
Old Central Government Offices 1930s until 1954
Central Government Offices 1957–1985^{[citation needed]}

Prior to the handover in 1997, the Provisional Legislative Council was executing work to set up the post handover legislature. It met in Shenzhen from 1996 to 1997 at the Shenzhen Guesthouse Hotel.