Glenealy, Hong Kong

Glenealy, Hong Kong
Section near Caritas Centre, Mid-levels, Hong Kong
Traditional Chinese	己連拿利
Simplified Chinese	己连拿利
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Jǐliánnálì

Glenealy is one of the few roads or streets without a suffix in Hong Kong. Located in the Mid-levels on the Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong, it starts from Ice House Street and goes uphill to Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens, across Robinson Road and ends at Hornsey Road and Conduit Road.

Glenealy was the short form of a valley called Glenealy Ravine (己連拿利谷). The valley separates the Government Hill in the east and Pedder's Hill in the west.

Alternatively, the valley was known as Elliot's Vale (義律谷), after Charles Elliot, at the beginning and a road from Robinson Road leading to the house named Glenealy on the site of present Roman Catholic Cathedral is known as Elliot Crescent.

Vale in Elliot's Vale means river valley and a river runs from Victoria Peak down to Central. The Elliot Vale name seems, however, to have been as short-lived as Elliot’s administration. The name Glenealy was quickly restored after Elliott's administration ended, with a new suffix of “ravine,” a fitting name in view of its steepness.

Glenealy was also the name of a mansion in the Victorian era. It belonged to an American opium trader, Warren Delano Jr., grandfather of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States of America. The mansion later gave way to the Catholic Cathedral of Hong Kong, whose construction commenced in 1883. The present address of the cathedral is 16 Caine Road.

Another Glenealy landmark is the 100-year-old Anglican Sheng Kung Hui St Paul’s Church, whose gates actually open to Wyndham Street. St. Paul’s College was founded here too, in 1851, as a school for boys. It was closed in 1941 due to the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong. After the war it was amalgamated with St. Paul’s Girls’ School to become St. Paul’s Co-educational College, and a new campus was built away from Glenealy.