Pedder Street and the Clock Tower

Perhaps John Thomson’s best-known photo of Hong Kong, this streetscape looks inland along Pedder Street towards its clock tower. Sited at the northern side of the intersection of Pedder Street and Queen’s Road, today’s Queen’s Road Central, the clock tower was completed in 1862 and demolished in 1913. Thomson’s photo, given the clock face and shadows, was taken at about 8.20 am on a summer morning. The figures have been posed, immobilized to avoid any blurring, in the foreground.