Belcher's Gardens.jpg | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

Belcher's Gardens.jpg

Belcher's Gardens.jpg
Authors: 

Source unknown to me.  Belcher's Gardens under construction, hence possibly 1955.  Co-op Housing Scheme for mid-ranking local civil servants.  Top terrace shown with huge canon in the middle.  Six blocks of four storeys with two numbers each.  Total 52 numbers on 5 or 6 terraces.  Private thoroughfare connected Polfulam Road to Shek Tong Tsui.  Gates at both ends with watchmen posts.

Adjacent HKU Lady Hotung Hall for girls and Ricci Hall for boys, as well as the Botany & Zoological Faculty. 

We were the first family to move in before the construction was completed.  Lived there for 10 years or so.  Grew up with lots of kids around and plenty of happy memories. 

Date picture taken (may be approximate): 
Sunday, January 1, 1956
Connections: 

Comments

Thanks Lawrence, that's a great view. Apart from a few months in TST, I've always lived in this part of Hong Kong and enjoy seeing old photos of the area.

Regards, David

The West Point gas holder can also be seen in the distance.

Hi Moddsey, Are you thinking of the gas holder in Shek Tong Tsui? That's a bit behind the photographer and down to the right. The gas holder in the distance in this photo was at the bottom of Pokfield Road in Kennedy Town, please see: http://gwulo.com/node/23608

Regards, David

Yes, I was. Got it now the Kennedy Town gasometer replaced the one at West Point. Thanks.

Thank you for posting this photograph of The Belcher's Gardens. I grew up during the 1950s and 1960s next to The Belcher's Gardens in a store at 534 Queen's Road West named Waiss Son & Co. 维新公司. I used to walk up the path to the left of our store passing a Chinese movie theatre and up to The Belcher's Gardens and on to the Lok Yau Hall entrance of the University of Hong Kong (HKU). There were times when it was my routine after-dinner walk every night in the late 1960s up Hill Road (another road to HKU to the right of our store) passing the Chinese vegetable market to HKU. My high school friend, Wyman Li, took me there one day in the early 1960s. That's how I discovered the existence of HKU and wanting to get in. The walk was a vivid memory lane for me, literally and figuratively speaking. James Chan, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.

I think this picture also shows St. John's College at the top left hand side!

If it's taken in around 1955, then St. John's might still have been in construction.

The back of St. John's College

St. John's College at the back
St. John's College at the back, by jonchucj