About Spence Robinson Ltd

Background & Objective The architectural practice of Spence Robinson originated in Shanghai in 1904, and prominent buildings designed there included the Shanghai post office and the race-course, which are still standing today.  The firm moved to Hong Kong in 1947, and over the years has established an excellent reputation for the quality of its services. Our many projects throughout Hong Kong include public housing, railway stations, ferry terminal, residential and commercial developments, educational establishments, recreation clubs, industrial buildings, etc. Spence Robinson Limited today provides professional consultancy services in the disciplines of architecture, project management, interior design, and building surveying.  We aim to provide our clients with wide-ranging services of the highest standard, and we strive in all fields to be efficient yet creative, well-administered yet flexible.  Our goal is to maintain our long-standing tradition of quality and reliability, whilst continually enhancing and developing our services to meet the needs of today’s ever-changing world, and to look forward with confidence to the challenge of the future. Although our principal activities remain firmly established in Hong Kong, we have in recent years been proud to once again design buildings in China to contribute to the modernization of the country where our founders started the practice and the Pacific region including Vietnam, Cambodia and countries in ‘One Belt One Road’. History The origins of Spence Robinson date back to the early years of this century in Shanghai. The architectural firm of Stewardson & Spence was formed soon after the end of the First World War, and in 1921 became Stewardson Spence & Watson. After Watson’s death and Stewardson’s retirement in 1926, H M Spence joined up with H E Robinson, bringing in the business of another firm, Moorhead Halse & Robinson.  The resulting new firm was Spence Robinson & Partners. The present-day Chinese name of the firm, Ma Hoi, is a rendering of “Moorhead” in Shanghainese, and dates back to the 1920’s. Prominent buildings designed in Shanghai included the post office and the race-course, which are still standing today. Spence Robinson & Partners continued working in Shanghai until the partners were interned by the Japanese in the late 1930’s.  They were released in 1945, and returned to work until the firm moved to Hong Kong in September 1947. Spence died in 1958, but Robinson continued with the business until his retirement in 1965.  During this period, the firm designed Alexandra House (demolished around 1980) and the superstructure of the Ocean Terminal, among many other projects. In the 1960’s and 70’s, the principal partners were D A Thornburrow and C Haffner, and the firm worked on many residential and institutional buildings. In the 1980’s, notable projects were the Macau Ferry Terminal - Shun Tak Centre complex in Sheung Wan, and a number of the railway station buildings along the Kowloon-Canton Railway, as well as numerous schools and residential buildings.  Apart from a project in Toronto and another in Brunei, the firm’s work was all in Hong Kong. In the early 1990’s, the firm has been able to once again design buildings in China, but its principal activities remain in Hong Kong.  Spence Robinson Ltd offers professional consultancy services in the disciplines of architecture, project management, interior design, and building surveying.  It aims to provide wide-ranging services of the highest standard, and attempts in all fields to be efficient yet creative, well administered yet flexible.