Mr Chris Patten ran Hong Kong from the colonial-era governor's mansion and bantered cheerfully with reporters on a sofa. Mr Tung Cheehwa (61), a businessman with hair cut like cornfield stubble, prefers the fifth floor of Central Government Offices.
He receives callers in a modest suite, with two functional armchairs and a coffee table with inbuilt state-of-the-art microphones. A wall-clock chimes every 15 minutes, reminding visitors that Hong Kong's leader is a very busy man, so hardworking that he is called "Mr 7-to-11".
Would he take President Jiang Zemin's advice last month to relax a bit more? Mr Tung replied that in business he took his work seriously, and now even more so because it concerned the welfare of over six million people.
The Shanghai native, who practises tai ch'i every dawn, said: "I have very long days. I start early. I am in the office around 7.30 a.m. But I try to go to bed early."
He took his first holiday in two years last month, at Zhangjiajie forest park in China's Hunan province, and in Shanghai.
Despite the long hours, Mr Tung's popularity has fallen steadily since July 1997 when he became the first chief executive after the territory reverted to China.
This is partly bad luck because of the Asian crisis, partly due to mismanagement, as in the case of the new airport.
Mr Tung acknowledged that his image needs burnishing. "Because of my training I'm a very result-oriented person," he said.
"My shortcoming is that I have not paid enough importance to the PR aspect, because in order to get the results you want in governing a place like Hong Kong or any other very open society, you need to bring the people along with you, and therefore a certain degree of better communication to the public is very very important."
Would he be riding the underground then to meet people as Mr Patten did? "I am different," Mr Tung said, sharply. "I spent the most part of my life here."
He had relatives, friends and school mates, "very ordinary citizens", from whom he took the pulse of the city, and he also met many people.