Rooftop HK 1954 | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

Rooftop HK 1954

Rooftop HK 1954
Submitted by pauline

This is presumably the roof from which the mystery photos were taken.  How on earth would anyone get up there,  it looks very dangerous to me!

Pauline.

Date picture taken (may be approximate): 
Friday, January 1, 1954
Gallery: 
1950s Pauline's Photos
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Comments

Submitted by moddsey on Mon, 2011-06-13 05:15.

Probably taken from the white building with columns from the start of the bend in the road: http://gwulo.com/node/5439

Interesting to see that the temporary government offices in Statue Square were still in use in 1954.

Submitted by David on Mon, 2011-06-13 05:54.

This is an interesting set - not an angle we usually see.

In this latest photo, the photographer is much higher up than in the first photo:

Mystery photo Hong Kong 1954

There they were level with the Prince's Building roof, but here we're looking down.

The white building Moddsey describes could work for this latest photo, but it is at the wrong angle for the first & second photos.

It looks as though they took photos from more than one building. I wonder if they were there for work, or just taking photos as a hobby?

Regards, David

Submitted by moddsey on Mon, 2011-06-13 06:18.

I had also noted that the photographer had taken the photos from adjacent buildings at different angles.

Pauline - was your husband in HK for the coronation in 1953?

Submitted by pauline on Mon, 2011-06-13 06:27.

Hi David,

These photos were taken by my husband so he obviously wouldn't have been on the roof of any building because of his work!  Perhaps getting up on the roof of a building was a sort of escape from the time spent underground in the Battle Box!!  Whatever the reason the photos would just have been part of his record of his time in HK.  I'm glad you like them.

Regards,  Pauline. 

Submitted by pauline on Mon, 2011-06-13 18:49.

Hi moddsey,

No,  my husband was in Hong Kong in 1954 and 1955 as a national serviceman.Thanks to David I have discovered that he was probably one of those in the Battle Box as he was part of "G"  Branch and actually in "G" (INT)  David has posted a plan of the Battle Box dated 1954 in which there is a room marked "G" (INT)  Army.  Without gwulo I would probably never have known this,  it's a brilliant site!  I'm glad that the photos are proving interesting and I'm sure my husband would approve.

Regards, Pauline.

 

Submitted by moddsey on Mon, 2011-06-13 21:38.

The rooftop photos are interesting as they were taken from different adjacent buidlings which makes me suspect and perhaps David does the same that they were work-related.

Free access by a member of the public to a commercial building rooftop is not easy to obtain. A reconnoitre of some sort perhaps is my guess.

Submitted by David on Tue, 2011-06-14 00:59.

Yes, I had the same feeling that it's unusual to be up on the rooftops of several different, adjacent buildings. Was it related to intelligence work at all? Or had they gone in their own time and just happened to have contacts with people working there? Was it a photography club outing? Or ...?

Probably a mystery we won't be able to answer.

Regards, David

Submitted by pauline on Tue, 2011-06-14 05:37.

Thanks moddsey and David for you thoughts re these photos.  I wish I could enlighten you more but,  as my husband never talked about what his work was I am just as much in the dark as you.  If access to the roofs of these buildings was not easy then I guess that you are right, either it was work related or maybe because of the nature of the work that they did they had contacts who would have given them permission.  I would go for the second option myself but then,  as you say David,  we shall probably never know.  All that I have learnt about "G" Branch and "G" (INT) so far just seems to lead to more questions rather that answering any. I do have two more rooftop photos so I'll put those on the site soon.

Regards,  Pauline.

Submitted by moddsey on Thu, 2011-06-23 18:50.

Now that there is the building site photo: http://gwulo.com/node/8908

It looks as if that was what the man in the photo was looking at.