HSBC Tower

The 45-floor HSBC UK headquarters at 8 Canada Square in London stands on former 18th-century sugar docks and features bronze lions with WWII survival stories. The site occupies land where 1790s West Indies imports generated a quarter of Britain's income. Replica bronze lions named Stephen and Stitt guard the entrance, and HSBC plans to relocate from the skyscraper to 81 Newgate Street in 2027.

London Β· from the walk β€œDocks, Deals & Dollars” Β· audio ~4 min Β· Generated

HSBC UK, 8 Canada Square, London E14 5HQ

Why are the bronze lions guarding HSBC at 8 Canada Square named Stephen and Stitt?

Look up at this gleaming tower of glass and steel. Eight Canada Square rises forty-five floors above ground that once smelled of molasses and sweat. This tower was built on reclaimed land, in an area that used to be home to the world's largest docks.......... Two hundred years ago, right where you're standing, dock workers hauled barrels of Caribbean sugar into fortress-like warehouses. By the seventeen nineties, a Quarter of Britain's income came from imports from the West Indies, and most of it landed here. One narrow street between the warehouses was infamously known as "Blood Alley"... due to the cuts and wounds workers received from handling the moist, gritty sugar as they toiled.......... Now here's where the story circles back on itself. Hsbc was founded by Thomas Sutherland, a young Scotsman who worked in Hong Kong for a large shipping firm. Its initial goal was to connect finance between Europe, India, and China, promoting economic development across continents. The very same maritime trade routes that once filled these docks with sugar... eventually gave birth to the bank that would plant its global headquarters on this exact spot.......... But notice the two bronze lions guarding the entrance? Their names are Stephen and Stitt. The first lion sculptures were commissioned for the rebuilt Hsbc Building on the Bund in Shanghai, opened in nineteen twenty-three. Chief Manager Alexander Stephen wrote that his inspiration came from the imposing lions outside the Venetian Arsenal. They were nicknamed Stephen β€” the roaring one β€” and Stitt β€” the quiescent one β€” after Alexander Stephen and Gordon Stitt, the Shanghai branch manager.......... And those lions have quite a war story! During World War Two, the Hong Kong lions were removed, shipped to Japan, and planned to be melted down as scrap metal. Fortunately, an American sailor in Osaka recognized them before they were destroyed and notified the bank, kickstarting their rescue. The bank, with assistance from General Douglas Macarthur, secured their return.......... The lions here at Eight Canada Square are faithful replicas of those survivors. They have eight lucky coins buried in the base, as tradition dictates β€” the number eight being symbolic of good fortune in Chinese tradition.......... But this tower's own days are numbered. Hsbc has confirmed it will relocate its global headquarters to eighty-one Newgate Street near Saint Paul's when its lease expires in twenty twenty-seven. The ambitious plan involves carving out sections of the building and creating a viewing deck, with Kohn Pedersen Fox winning the competition to redesign it.......... So the cycle continues. Sugar docks became bank towers... and bank towers are about to become something new entirely. The water you see in the old dock basins beside this building? That's the Same water where ships from Jamaica once floated. Two centuries of reinvention, and the tide just keeps turning.

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