1970s Cotton Tree Drive

Hi there,

Murray House is present, as well as the old Hong Kong Club building.  Next to the Hong Kong Club you have the Sutherland House, which was replaced by the Ritz-Calton in 1993.  Now the Ritz-Carlton is gone too.

I have forgotten the name of the building behind the Chartered Bank, which is partially shown in the photo.  There uesd to be a McYuck in it's basementin the late 1970's.

Best Regards,

T

Hi T, Please can you point out which of the buildings is Sutherland House? That's one I don't know about.

Also, there's no sign of the Furama, which may help date the photo. Does anyone know which year that opened?

Thanks, David

Hi there,

It should be the one shown here:

You should also be able to see just a very small fraction of the Mercury House behind the Sutherland House.  The Mercury House used to be the HQ of the Cable & Wireless at the time the photo was taken.  If the Ritz-Carlton was already there when you landed here that was pretty much why you have never heard of the Sutherland.

I have forgotten what's the name of the tall building behind the Sutherland, however.

Concerning the Furama, a Chinese entry in Wiki mentioned it was opened in 1973.

Best Regards,

T

Thanks T, that's all clear now. I had the same reaction, wondering what that tall building behind Sutherland was. Moddsey's new photo above solves the mystery - the white block is actually a central part of the Sutherland building. It's an unusual design.

Regards, David

Hi there,

Ah, the white central part was the elevator shaft and the main structure of the building.  I believe most modern office buildings are being built like that.  It's just that other building have not have the central part exposed like the Sutherland.

Best Regards,

T

Hi there,

The building I mention having a McYuck at the basement in the Late 1970's should be the Hang Chong Building, #5 Queen's Rd, Central.  It is shown in horizontal strips in the photo.  Part of it could be seen behind the Bank of China Building.

Strange enough, this is still being listed in the GPO service list, just like the Sutherland House and a bunch of other older buildings.

Best Regards,

T

There's no sign of the New Oriental Building, or Butterfield & Swire's offices. The plot is also empty in this photo dated 1965, and even this one dated 1963.

So there was an empty plot there for a long while before the Furama was built. Seems strange that the land would just be left empty. Does anyone know the reason behind it?

Hi there,

Speaking of empty slots, there was one in Causeway Bay in the late 1960's.  That used to be the site of the 'Lee Gardons (利園)“ (a sort of amusement park without the machinery run by the same Lee family who later owned the Lee theatre and the Lee Gardens Hotel) which became 500 Hennessy Road in the late 1970's. 

Blasting begin in the late 1950's/early 1960's after the Lee Gardons was demonished and the rocky hill was blasted away bit by bit.  From one of the older photos in another thread one could see a hill there. 

In the mid 1960's, the site was a deep pit and the blasting/foundation work was halted.  It had then been boarded up until the middle of the 1970s when the blasting started a new, and the Hennessy Centre was built.

Best Regards,

T