// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhy did Ladder streets go up in value? They had a step in the right direction.

Aberdeen Street, one of the ladder streets in Central.

Ladder streets are narrow streets in Hong Kong comprising steps. Most are found between Central and Sheung Wan and Mid-Levels on Hong Kong Island, from Queen's Road Central, through Hollywood Road and a few other cross streets, to Caine Road at the Mid-Levels. Other ladder streets exist outside of the immediate Mid-Levels area, such as Sands Street in Kennedy Town.

Note that there is indeed a street named Ladder Street, composed entirely of stone steps, in Sheung Wan.

While some ladder streets are made only of traditional steps, some at a moderate incline have portions that could be traversed with a rickshaw or cart. These portions had raised stones perpendicular to the street at regular intervals acting like a ratchet so that carts and rickshaws could be easily stopped and parked. This kind of paving can be found on Pottinger Street.

The Duddell Street steps were declared a monument by the Antiquities and Monuments Office.

History

Shortly after their arrival in Hong Kong, the British built administrative buildings on the northern shore of the island, in the area which came to be called Victoria and later called Central. The water met the island at what is now Queen's Road. There was no flat land, so during the brief tenure of Sir Henry Pottinger, the first governor of the colony, from 1841 to 1844, streets of steps were planned. The first recorded ladder street was built between Queen's Road and Gough Street in 1845. Remaining ladder streets steps are some of the very oldest structures in the territory.

The streets were originally made with the local pink granite. Most have been replaced with concrete.

Ladder streets

• Shin Hing Street
• Pound Lane
• Ladder Street
• Sands Street
• Duddell Street
• Tung Street
• Bridges Street
• Aberdeen Street
• Shing Wong Street
• Pottinger Street
• Castle Steps
• Tank Lane

• 
  Pottinger St 1930s
• 
  Pottinger St 2005
• 
  Mee Lun St 2005
• 
  Aberdeen St 2006
• 
  Pound Ln 2006
• 
  Lane off Hollywood Rd 2006
• 
  Sands St 2007
• 
  Tai Ping Shan St 2008
• 
  Tai Ping Shan St 2008
• 
  Sands St 2009
• 
  Mee Lun St 2009
• 
  Duddell St 2013
• 
  Sands St 2014
• 
  Wan Tin Path 2014
• 
  Pound Ln 2016
• 
  Ladder St 2017

See also

• Central–Mid-Levels escalator
• Step street

External links

• Travel in the Far East from Time Magazine
• Hong Kong Street Markets
• "Castle Steps / Seymour Road to Robinson Road". Hong Kong Stair Archive. Stair Culture. 7 March 2016.
• "Stairs of Shin Hing Street / Gough Street to Hollywood Road". Hong Kong Stair Archive. Stair Culture. 7 March 2016.
• "Stairs of Tank Lane / Queen's Road Central to Po Hing Fong". Hong Kong Stair Archive. Stair Culture. 2 March 2016.
• "Stairs of Tung Street / Queen's Road Central to Tai Ping Shan Street". Hong Kong Stair Archive. Stair Culture. 2 March 2016.