1920s Canton Road | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

1920s Canton Road

1920s Canton Road
Submitted by Klaus. View the original image on Flickr.
Authors: 
Eternal1966
Tags: 
old
Hong Kong
canton road

Amazing hand-coloured postcard.It looks quite like this one from the 1930's

1930s Canton Road
1930s Canton Road, by eternal1966b

 

 

Date picture taken (may be approximate): 
Thursday, January 1, 1920
Gallery: 
1920s Hong Kong
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Comments

Submitted by OldTimer on Sun, 2016-02-28 02:33.

I seem to have seen this ramp many years ago.  If this is the corner at Salisbury, is it the same tree that still stands today?  2~3 blocks further back, it looks like there was an impressive tree canopy.

Submitted by Klaus on Sun, 2016-02-28 05:37.

Hi, I guess you're right. The ramp goes up to the former Marine Police HQ. This can be seen from this arial view:

1930s Tsim Sha Tsui KCR station, YMCA and Peninsula Hotel
1930s Tsim Sha Tsui KCR station, YMCA and Peninsula Hotel, by Admin

North from the KCR station is the ramp - then with many more trees. Even the (boarding?) house is on the left-hand side of Canton Road.

Today it looks like this on streetview.

Submitted by OldTimer on Sun, 2016-02-28 08:06.

Thanks Klaus.  HK is always changing so it is nice to see this corner's landscape being preserved. These old photos work wonders for my memory recall.  One cannot miss the colourful street lamp post which looks standing on the roadway. 

Submitted by moddsey on Sun, 2016-02-28 08:25.

Early Canton Road as noted here

Submitted by David on Sun, 2016-02-28 19:05.

Hi Klaus,

The 1920s and 1930s photos are looking north up Canton Road, from the junction with Salisbury Road, but the 1953 photo looks south along Canton Road from the junction with Peking Road. So even though they look so similar, the shophouses on the left of the first two photos are a different building from the one in the 1953 photo.

Regards, David

Submitted by Klaus on Sun, 2016-02-28 19:16.

Hi David,

you're absolutly right. I was already wondering about the ramp in the back, but the similarity of the shophouses mislead me to think that the images showed the same area. I'll delete the 1953 image from my post.

Regards, Klaus

 

Submitted by OldTimer on Sun, 2016-02-28 21:59.

The third photo shows the 3-storey shophouses at Canton and Salisbury with a pitched roof which I believe would be difficult to find today.  I ventured one time to such roof and had to bend down to enter inside because of low clearance and it wasn't, or couldn't, act as storage area.  Other than to channel the rain to the roof gutter, I wonder if it was also intended to keep the top level cool during summer.