Quarry Bay 'Monster Building'

Five interconnected residential towers whose internal courtyard creates a vertiginous urban canyon

Five interconnected residential towers in Quarry Bay, known collectively as the "Monster Building" or Yick Cheong Building, create one of the most photographed urban canyons in Asia. When viewed from the internal courtyard, the receding tiers of residential blocks, hung with air conditioning units and laundry, stretch up to a rectangle of sky in a composition that has become iconic.

The building is an active residential complex — people live there, do their laundry, and go to work. Visitors who enter the courtyard should do so quietly and without being intrusive. The best light is at midday when the sun is overhead and the canyon is fully illuminated. The surrounding Quarry Bay district has some good local restaurants and a more everyday feel than the tourist districts; it is a reasonable place to spend an hour or two beyond the photo opportunity.

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A story
The five towers — Fook Cheong, Montane Mansion, Oceanic Mansion, Provident Centre, and Yick Cheong — were built separately between 1962 and 1964 but share a common podium and internal courtyard. The result, when viewed from the courtyard looking up, is one of the most dramatic urban vistas in Asia. The building appeared in Transformers: Age of Extinction and several other films, which increased foot traffic but also annoyed residents.

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