Hong Kong Fringe Club

Hong Kong Fringe Club
香港藝穗會
General information
Type	Arts venue
Architectural style	Late Victorian
Address	2 Lower Albert Road, Central, Hong Kong
Construction started	1890
Renovated	1913
Design and construction
Main contractor	Dairy Farm

The Hong Kong Fringe Club (Chinese: 香港藝穗會) is a Not-for-profit arts organisation whose mission is to help emergent artists to get started, promote Hong Kong artists abroad through cultural exchange and overseas touring, and conserve and invigorate Hong Kong cultural heritage. It is also a contemporary arts space that provides rent-free facilities for artists to put on their performance or exhibition. It is located in 2 Lower Albert Road, Central District. It is housed in a Grade-I heritage building, formerly the old "Dairy Farm" cold storage depot, built circa 1892 in a late Victorian architectural style. The facade of this building is distinguished by its brickwork known as Blood & Bandages.

In 1892, Dairy Farm built a low-rise brick and stucco building on Lower Albert Road in Central for use as a cold storage warehouse. This warehouse was later renovated and expanded in 1913 to include a dairy shop, a room for meat smoking, a cold storage room for winter clothes and residency for the General Manager. The building later evolved into the company headquarters until the company moved in the 1970s. The abandoned building was acquired by the Hong Kong Fringe Club in 1984.

The building has undergone many major renovations to make it a vibrant place for contemporary arts since the Fringe Club moved in, in 1983. In 2001, the building won a Hong Kong Government Heritage Award for its use of the building. It has been categorised as a Grade I historic building.

The Fringe Club has two studio theatres, three exhibition areas (including a photography gallery), a rehearsal room, a restaurant, a roof garden and offices. It features and promotes theatre, dance, music and exhibitions.

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