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.