Kowloon Tong: Art Deco and Hidden Heritage in Hong Kong

(3 reviews)

Hong Kong audio tour: Kowloon Tong: Art Deco and Hidden Heritage in Hong Kong

This is a 2.1mi walking tour

It takes an average of 90 mins to complete.

Hong Kong

Hong Kong (China)

$9.99

Access all 33 locations offline with the VoiceMap app

Buy for a Group

Reviews

About the Tour

Kowloon Peninsula is a window onto Hong Kong’s architectural evolution.

On this walking tour, you’ll discover some of the most impressive yet overlooked Art Deco and Modernist structures near Hong Kong’s vibrant local markets. From villas commissioned by wealthy merchants to modernist apartment buildings, schools, and churches, you’ll see how avant-garde architectural trends reached this corner of the British Empire during a crucial period of its development in the 1900s.

The tour starts at Mary Knoll Convent School on Waterloo Road, with its fascinating blend of Art Deco and Gothic Revival styles. You’ll weave past the startlingly modern St. Teresa’s and see what is perhaps Hong Kong’s finest Art Deco treasure on Prince Edward Road West.

You’ll ascend Kadoorie Hill and the Braga Circuit to find an often overlooked enclave of Art Deco villas. Each property features distinctive architectural elements like wraparound balconies, curved edges, and nautical motifs.

The tour ends at Mong Kok East MTR Station, where working-class hustle-and-bustle contrasts with the exclusive residences of Kadoorie Hill.

On this 90-minute tour, you’ll also have a chance to:

Appreciate the detailed Art Deco wave patterns and cantilevered balconies of Prince Edward Road West’s meticulously restored apartments
Walk through Yuen Po Bird Market, where songbird enthusiasts still gather to socialise and compare their prized avian companions
Find out how the evolution of the Garden Cities Movement and the international style of Art Deco in Kowloon Tong influenced Kowloon’s architecture
Explore the once-significant Boundary Street, which formerly marked the border between British-controlled Kowloon and Qing Dynasty territory
Discover the Braga Circuit, a mews-like street named after prominent Macanese businessman José Braga
Admire Kadoorie Hill’s luxurious villas featuring Streamlined Moderne styling with high ceilings, Crittall windows, and curved edges
Visit St. Teresa’s Roman Catholic Church, an intriguing blend of Romanesque architecture and Art Deco influences
Browse the vibrant Mong Kok Flower Market, a glimpse of traditional Hong Kong culture that persists amid rapid urbanisation.

This tour is a rare opportunity to explore an overlooked architectural enclave that survived Hong Kong’s development frenzy. By the end, you’ll have a sense of how European design sensibilities were adapted to the tropical climate of this dynamic colonial port city.

Tour Producer

Paul French

5 tours

Paul French was born in London and lived and worked in Shanghai for many years. His book Midnight in Peking was a New York Times Bestseller and a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week. He received the Mystery Writers’ of America Edgar award for Best Fact Crime and a Crime Writers’ Association (UK) Dagger award for non-fiction. City of Devils: A Shanghai Noir received much praise with The Economist writing, ‘…in Mr French the city has its champion storyteller.’ Both Midnight in Peking and City of Devils are currently in development for film. His most recent book is Her Lotus Year: China, the Roaring Twenties and the Making of Wallis Simpson was described by the New York Times as ‘…beautifully told through meticulous historical research and examination of contemporary literature and film — gives the reader a vivid picture of what China must have been like for an American expat in the 1920s.’

Preview Location

Location 15

Mong Kok Flower Market II

Stay here and let's have a little fun exploring Mong Kok Flower Market.

At the junction of Yuen Ngai Street and Flower Market Road, you'll start to see a cluster of florist shops and market stalls selling flowers, plants, and gardening equipment. Much of the Kowloon Tong ar... Stay here and let's have a little fun exploring Mong Kok Flower Market.

At the junction of Yuen Ngai Street and Flower Market Road, you'll start to see a cluster of florist shops and market stalls selling flowers, plants, and gardening equipment. Much of the Kowloon Tong area, including Kadoorie Hill and the Braga Circuit that we'll visit next, was developed along the lines of the Garden City movement. Developers in Hong Kong were inspired by the concepts pioneered by the British urban planner Sir Ebenezer Howard, the father of the "Garden Cities" movement. British-Hong Kong businessman Charles Montague Ede, an advocate of the Garden City movement, created a desirable suburb around here with streets of detached two-storey homes complete with fitted kitchens, servants’ quarters, and lawns edged with palm trees and acacias to provide shade. Many of the streets in the Kowloon Tong Garden City Estate had gardens, as would the villas of Kadoorie Hill that were built slightly later.

The houses were especially popular with the Portuguese community that had clustered in that area since the late 1800s. Naturally with so many people having gardens, as well as apartment balconies, there was a need for a flower and garden accessories market close by. As well as keen gardeners, many Hong Kongers also visit the market to buy auspicious plants, especially at Chinese New Year. The market's been in operation since the 1970s as the centre of Hong Kong's wholesale flower industry with more than 50 plant shops selling dried flowers, seeds, gardening tools, fertilizers, insecticides, fungicides, and even garden furniture. The majority of shops open daily from 9:30am and close around 7pm.

The flowers are, of course, beautiful, but don't forget to look at the buildings along Flower Market Road and the small streets around such as Tung Choi Street, Sai Yee Street, and Playing Field Road, if you'd like to wander and spend more time exploring the flower market. Many are traditional shophouses and arcaded. This was a much more popular architectural form in the 1800s and early 1900s on both Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. Many however have been lost to redevelopment and the concept of the shophouse is now perhaps more associated with South East Asia and Singapore as well as Guangzhou's Liwan District, noted for its "Xiguan" style blend of baroque and ornate shophouses with high-ceilinged apartments above.

If you'd like to spend some time here, please feel free.

Otherwise, we need to head towards Kadoorie Hill and Hong Kong's most impressive cluster of Art Deco villas, houses, apartments, and terraces.

When you're ready, retrace your steps and walk back down Yuen Ngai Street, but this time on the opposite side.

I'll meet you at the end of the street. Read More

View locations and route

How VoiceMap Works

Focus on your surroundings, not the screen

The VoiceMap app uses GPS to play audio automatically, at the right time and place, so you can focus on your surroundings, not the screen.

Follow a route with turn-by-turn-directions

VoiceMap tours follow a route from a fixed starting point. That lets us give turn-by-turn directions and use context to tell a better story.

Resume playback to go at your own pace

If you'd like to stop for a drink or go into a museum, end your tour then use the Resume feature to pick up exactly where you left off.

Listen as many times as you like

You can listen to your tours as often as you like using both the VoiceMap app and website.

Take virtual tours anywhere, like a podcast

Select Virtual mode in the VoiceMap app to listen to tours like a podcast - at home or in transit.

Buy for less on voicemap.me and sync

Once you've purchased a tour, it's added to your VoiceMap library. To access it in the app, just sign in using the same account.

Do tours without paying for data

Tours work offline, so you don't have to pay roaming fees. Just download them over WiFi before you get started.

Major Landmarks

Maryknoll Convent School (Primary Section)
Saint Teresa's Church
Flower Market Road
Yuen Po Street Bird and Flower Market
Kadoorie Hill
Mong Kok East Station Bus Terminus
Mong Kok Flower Market

View all

Getting There

Route Overview

VoiceMap tours follow a route from a set starting point. It’s how we give turn-by-turn directions and tell a story greater than the sum of its parts.

Start location
5號 Ho Tung Rd, Kowloon Tsai, Hong Kong
Total distance

3km
Final location
Mong Kok, Hong Kong
Distance back to start location

941.95m

Directions to Starting Point

The tour begins at Mary Knoll School on Waterloo Road, Kowloon. Several KMB buses and local green minibuses pass by the school daily, including bus routes 1, 1A, 3C, 81C, 87D and 281A. The MTR's Tuen Ma, East Rail, Tsuen Wan and Kwun Tong Lines all have station stops close by at Mong Kok East or Prince Edward MTR stations. From each station it is about a 15 minute walk to the start point at Mary Knoll School.

Show Directions

Gift vouchers

Buy tours for friends and family who delight in discovery

Buy Now

Buy for a group

Get 15% to 50% off when you buy for a group

Buy Now

License this tour

Adapt this tour to use your brand and suit your guests

Find out more

Tips

Places to stop along the way

Cafe Hay Fever is a nice coffee shop at the rear of the Hay Fever Florists at #62-64 Flower Market Road. There are a couple of small local tea houses in the Yuen Po Bird Market.

Best time of day

Daytime - early is good as both the bird market and flower market open early for business

Precautions

Please use pedestrian crossings, bridges or underpasses to cross the busy roads. It's always best to make sure you have water with you in Hong Kong - the only convenience store along the way are at the bird and flower markets and on Price Edward Road West. In summer sunblock and a head covering are recommended. An umbrella or waterproof in case of sudden showers is also always advisable.

Get The App

Download tours to use them offline

Listen hands-free with GPS playback

Get turn-by-turn directions

Scan the QR Code

“This app has become my go-to app for audio tours. I pretty much use it for every trip and it works wonderfully. I highly recommend VoiceMap for travelers to truly experience cities.”

App Store Review

“Great app. walk around at your own pace, stop where you want, move on or speed up when you want. Read the script before you go or during the commentary, speed it up or replay it. Repeat the tour whenever you like.”

Google Play Store

Last Updated

12 Dec 2025

Questions and Reviews

4.7 / 5

3 Ratings

Display:

Sort by:

Relevant

Recent

Loading…

Loading...