Hong Kong Snapshot (59) – World’s unique: State Theatre 香港隨拍 (59) 世界獨一無二的皇都戲院

HK Snapshot is back! Sorry that I was too busy recently and have no time to go out taking photos! But now my new office is almost settled and so I am going to have day off again! (last day off is 17th Dec TvT). This time, we are going to the State Theatre in Hong Kong.

香港隨拍回來了！這陣子忙於搬辦公室，實在太忙了！完全沒有時間外出拍照！不過辦公室已差不多安頓好，我下星期應該可以放假了(上一次放假是12月17日TT)！這次我們去皇都戲院！

State Theatre is located in North Point, HK Island. Why is a theatre so special that I want to tell you it’s story? It’s because of its world’s unique “parabola-like” concrete arches above its roof.

皇都戲院在香港島的北角區，這戲院有什麼特別？全在於它在天台的世界獨一無二飛拱設計。

The State Theatre was opened in 1952 as the Empire Theatre and named as the State Theatre in 1959. The Theatre, as well as a cinema, was designed according to the newest style of the cinema of USA. There were total 1300 seats, which is one of the largest Theatre and cinema in HK and even Asia. All the lighting, seating and even the sound system were designed by professional. It was also the most important Classical Orchestra performance venue at the time.

皇都戲院於1952年以璇宮戲院的名稱開業，1959年易名為皇都戲院，當時依據美國最新電影院為藍本設計，共1300座位，是香港以至亞洲當年最大的戲院之一，所有的燈光、座位及音響等都由專家設計。它亦是當年香港最重要的古典音樂演奏場地，17歲的鄧麗君也曾在這裡登台。

State Theatre 皇都戲院, 1961 (photo from hk01)

State Theatre in LEGO 用樂高砌成的皇都戲院

On the front wall of the theatre, there’s a large relief designed by famous Chinese artist Mui Yue-Tin. The title of the relief is “蟬迷董卓” (translation: Diaochan and Song Zhuo), which is one of the most famous story in “Romance of the Three Kingdoms”, one of the “Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature”. But 60 years passes and the relief now has been eroded.

在皇都戲院的大門上，是一幅名為「蟬迷董卓」的浮雕作品，由中國當代大師梅與天創作，不過60年過去，浮雕已被侵蝕得差不多看不見了。

Another feature of the Theatre is the “parabola-like” flying buttress above the roof. The structure supports the building so that no column is needed inside the building, making best view and design of the theatre.

另一個焦點自然是天台的「外露式拋物線形桁架」，這一種設計除了美觀，更可減少建築內的承托支柱，亦可減低外間傳入戲院的震盪，是當年亞洲的唯一，今天更已成為世界獨一無二。

In 1997, due to the decline of HK film’s industry, the State Theatre was closed and was rented to a billiard parlour. The ground floor remained as a mall. As the location of the State Theatre is one of the best area in Hong Kong, numbers of developers were targeting the Theatre and started the competition of acquisitions. In 2016, the New World Development in HK already got almost 80%.

1997年，因為香港電影業衰退，皇都戲院正式結業，被租為桌球室，地下則保持為商場。由於戲院坐落北角黃金地段，各大地產商亦開始了皇都戲完的收購戰，直到2016年，新世界發展商已得到接近80%的業權，當它得到80%業權，就可以申請強拍重建。

The same year, Docomomo International, an international organization of protection and conservation of Modern Architecture, announced the “heritage in dancer” warning of the Theatre. It described State Theatre is an important Modern Architecture. The roof structure is even unique in the world. At the same time, HK organization “Walk in Hong Kong” gathered 4 proposals of the conservation of the State Theatre. And the result? We don’t know yet.

同年，國際保育組織Docomomo International發出了「文物危急警示」，他們形容皇都戲院是世界重要的現代建築，其屋頂結構更是世界獨一無二，要求避免清拆。同一時間，香港保育組織「活現香港」也在民間集結了4份保育皇都戲院的計劃書，希望成功保育皇都戲院。結果如何？我們尚未知道。

3 of the proposals 其中三份計劃書

I visited the Theatre and tried to go to the roof top. And of course, I couldn’t get in. I can only go into the mall. There were only very old shops and no people around. I believed the acquisitions influenced them a lot.

那天我就親身來到了皇都戲院，本想到天台一看，但當然連門都找不到，最後我走過地下的那個商場，商場只餘下暗燈盞盞，破舊老店，人也沒有幾個，看來，收購戰對這裡的影響也十分大。

Finally, I went to the roof top of a building beside it and took this photo.

最後，我終於在旁邊一座大廈的天台成功拍下這張照片。

This year is the 65th years of State Theatre. Can we see the 70th years of State Theatre? How will the future of State Theatre be? We all don’t know. Just want to ask: is destroying the Theatre and rebuilding the only way? Can we conserve and reuse? Let time give us an answer.

今年是皇都戲院65歲，我們還能見到皇都的70歲嗎？皇都戲院的未來會是如何？我們不知道，但只想問一句：破壞與重建是否唯一的方法？能否以保育發展的方法處理？這個答案，就讓時間告訴我們吧。

At the end, I want to show you a video. It’s a video produced by 4 young people in Hong Kong to introduce State Theatre and call for the save. Wish you spend 1 minute to watch it.

最後，我想分享一條視頻，這是由香港4位年輕大學生製作的短片，向大家介紹皇都戲院，同時希望大家都能幫助保育它，希望你能花1分鐘觀看這視頻。

!steemitworldmap 22.2906475 lat 114.1931067 long d3scr

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Thanks for spending your time to read my articles. I like to share stories of Hong Kong. I wish you may support me and I will keep going!
謝謝你能抽空閱讀這篇文章，我平日喜歡分享香港的故事，希望大家多多支持，我會繼續努力！

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