This photo is inscribed by my cousin, Diana Warren, “View from our roof to Kowloon”. “Our roof” should therefore be 19 Broadwood Road, also known as “The Bungalow”, built next door to “The Towers” at the top of Broadwood Road. As “The Bunglalow” was only one storey high, I’m surprised that the camera is looking down on the nearby buildings. I wonder if the photo was actually taken from the flat roof of The Towers and that the nearby roof is that of The Bungalow itself. Orientation isn’t my strong suit. I’d be grateful if local experts could tell me which road the further building would have been in – probably not Broadwood Road. Also what is the flat-topped mound in the distance on the left? The photo should have been taken in 1934-38 before Cicely Warren, (daughter-in-law of CE Warren) and her children left Hong Kong. The inscription isn’t necessarily correct as it was added some fifty years later.
Jill
Comments
View to Kowloon
I'm sure someone else will correct me but I think your date range may be later than the image suggests. Zooming in I can just make out what I presume to be the Kowloon railway station tower, but I cannot see the nearby Peninsula Hotel that was opened in 1928. This building would normally rise well above the waterfront at this time. The earth mound on the left is probably the remains of Morrison Hill that was progressively being cut down for the East Praya reclamation, although the perspective seems odd as the racecourse should be down below on the left somewhere. All a bit before my time!
View to Kowloon
I agree with IDJ that the hill on the left is Morrison Hill, pushing the date of this photo back to the 1920s.
The photographer is above the flat roof, but not much higher, and roughly level with the curved building in the distance. If you have any maps of the area that show the outlines of buildings, they would probably pin it down, as the flat-roof building is roughly T-shaped.
Looking at this photo from Sean, I wonder if the photographer could have been on the building with the line drawn above it. Then the flat-roof building is next left, and the curved building is on the left edge of the photo:
Regards, David
View to Kowloon
Taking the photograph from the roof of a building further down the road would certainly explain the close perspective of the remains of Morrison Hill and the lack of distance to take in the racecourse
Whose roof in Broadwood Road?
Many thanks IDJ and David for your analyses of this mystery photograph. David, could you transfer it to the 1920s gallery? I'm trying to work out the Why of the photo, which would help to fix the When and Where. There was an earlier correspondence at http://gwulo.com/atom/19433 about the excavation of Morrison Hill to which I contributed, as I had found an application from my grandfather, CE Warren to build 15 houses there. I never found out who won the application, as various documents were missing, but there might have been a family interest in photographing the view towards Morrison Hill nevertheless. The photo that I have has been enlarged, but its condition seems better than pre-1920 family photos. The crayon mark on Sean's 1923 postcard of Happy Valley would seem to point to the Olson family house at 13 Broadwood Road. Perhaps it was received from his grandfather, John Olson, who temporarily returned to Hong Kong when my own grandfather, Charles Warren, died in June 1923. Although the Olson photos always show Charles and Ethel Olson in residence at no. 13, the rates were paid in John's name until at least the mid-1930s. It's not impossible that the photo was taken in the 1920s from no. 13, as my grandmother, Hannah Warren seems to have remained on good terms with her younger brother, Charles, until he left Hong Kong in 1926/27, and also Ethel with my aunt, Cicely Warren. Several photos show Hannah and Charles together at The Towers around 1923 after she had returned to Hong Kong from England. I'm afraid I don't have any diagrammatic maps of the houses on Broadwood Road and would be grateful for any other comments or comparisons.
Jill