History
The square was built at the end of the 19th century. The idea of a square of statues dedicated to royalty was conceived by Sir Catchick Paul Chater.. It derives its name from the fact that it originally contained the statue of , as the square's name in Chinese testifies. The statue of Victoria was ordered to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of the monarch in 1887, should never have been made in bronze, but in marble, an error that wasn't picked up until the bronze statue was almost completed. . A statue of Sir Thomas Jackson, the chief manager of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation was unveiled on February 24, 1906. These statues , together with the two bronze lions in front of the HSBC building, were displaced to Japan to be melted by the occupying Japanese during World War II.
After the war the statues were brought back to Hong Kong. Sir Thomas Jackson's now stands roughly in the middle of the square, facing the Former Supreme Court Building. Queen Victoria's statue was placed in . The two lions are now again in front of the HSBC building. The bronze statue of George V, also removed by the Japanese, was lost and never replaced after the war.
Since the 1980s, there has been a tradition for thousands of Filipina to congregate in and around Statue Square every Sunday . A parallel tradition has since been developed in for domestic servants in Hong Kong.
Surrounding buildings
The HSBC Hong Kong headquarters building is located along its southern side. It stands at the location of the old . The Former Supreme Court Building, now housing the is located along the eastern side of the square. Prince's Building is located along the western side of the square.
The square was initially bordered by Victoria Harbour on its northern side, but following land reclamation, it is now separated from it by Edinburgh Place, which houses the Star Ferry pier, among others.
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