National Commercial & Savings Bank Building / Kwok Man House [1933-????] | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

National Commercial & Savings Bank Building / Kwok Man House [1933-????]

Current condition: 
Demolished / No longer exists
Date Place completed: 
1933-04-01
Tags: 

Photos that show this place

Comments

Looking at this c.1937 photo:

Bank of East Asia

Moddsey writes:

Looks like Nos. 6 and 10 Des Voeux Road Central were respectively the Bank of Canton and Bank of East Asia Buildings. No. 8 would have been Kwok Man House. But looking at the photo posted, it would appear from the Chinese characters on the front of the building that it was called something else instead. 

The Harrison Forman photos from 1940-1941 show that the building was known as ---- ---- Hong (unable to decipher).

I searched for "Kwok Man House" in Google Books (view search). The books and publications that mention it date from 1957-1965. So, was the building demolished and re-built in the 1950s?

Here's how it looked in the 1940s:

1940s Bank of East Asia Building

And here's a view from c.1959:

1953 View from the HK Bank

The balconies on the middle floors are gone, but the general height & shape of the building are the same. I think it wasn't demolished, but was re-developed. It's possible that was connected with a change of name / ownership.

It is marked as Item 22 on the 1955 & 1957 maps above, the "National Commercial & Savings Bank". Though it's not clear if that was the name of the building, or they were just an important tenant.

That's as far as I've got, any extra information welcome.

Regards, David

I've updated the name to show it was originally called the National Commercial & Savings Bank Building, then later changed its name to Kwok Man House.

Moddsey found a 1932 report of the acquistion of the site. The building opened on 18th April 1933. (see clippings above).