Mt Gough area, with 359 The Peak.jpg | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

Mt Gough area, with 359 The Peak.jpg

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Mt Gough area, with 359 The Peak.jpg
Submitted by franwall
Date picture taken (may be approximate): 
Tuesday, January 1, 1957
Connections: 
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Submitted by gw on Tue, 2018-01-16 01:42.

Hi Franwall,

Thanks for posting another fascinating pic.

May I respectively suggest that the building marked "359 The Peak" may be Brockhurst, i.e. the building you refer to as Jardines Mess in your other postings. They are similar in appearance from the front, but I think the angle from which this photo was taken means it's Brockhurst.

Submitted by franwall on Tue, 2018-01-16 05:00.

No - Brockhurst was a building housing three Jardines flats - two for senior managers at that time and the other as a bachelor flat for three young men - me being one of them. I'm not sure what happened to the building but I guess it got swallowed up in re-development.

I have posted a separate comment on the HK Tramways "twin house" at 358-359 The Peak, just down below Brockhurst.

Best Regards  -  Frank Waller

Submitted by franwall on Tue, 2018-01-16 05:24.

Sorry GW  -  on further much closer scrutiny I think you are right and I'm wrong! The building I labbled as 359 The Peak must have been Brockhurst as the two rounded windows are in the middle of the building. I now think I can make out 359 just down to the left. My apologies! I need to go to Specsavers!

Frank

Submitted by gw on Fri, 2018-01-26 14:31.

Hi Frank,

Thanks for your previous reply. This is an unusual picture of the south side of Mount Gough. Almost all the other photos I've seen were taken from the south-west, on and around Mount Kellett, whereas this was taken from the south-east. When you took it were you standing near the bottom of what is now Mansfield Road? If yes, can you remember what was down there at the time. To my understand, the site was originally used by the War Department as a hospital, and in the 1970's redeveloped into the Mansfield Road Government Quarters.

Other buildings shown in this photo are;

1. Lewknor and Glasbheinn, (one building) nearest the top right corner.

2. Eggesford - the first building you arrive at if you come left along Severn Road from 1.

3. The Bracket - from this angle it's apparently growing out of the roof of 2.

4. Brockhurst - on the skyline above 3, see earlier posts above.

Bicton/Burrington, Kirkendoa and Red Hill are seen as a clump in the middle of the photo with The Bluff further to the left. The features of the buildings further away are quite indistinct.

That leaves the group of four buildings near the bottom right of the photo, of which I've seen very few pics before. Starting with the one at 12 o'clock and moving clockwise, they are;

5. No. 502 The Peak, 64 Peak Road.

6. No. 499 The Peak, 60 Peak Road.

7. No. 501 The Peak, 62 Peak Road.

8. No. 500 The Peak, 66 Peak Road.

Submitted by franwall on Sat, 2018-01-27 05:33.

Hello Geoff

Thanks for your comment on my extremely old photo taken when, as a teenager, i used to wander all over The Peak area taking photos  -  most of which have now been lost due to my many home moves within Hong Kong and in other postings before my retirement.

I seem to recall that the Gough Hill (it wasn't really a mountain) photo was taken just down below the house where I lived  -  probably on the Peak Road. But my wanderings also took me over to the old bomb site further East which you have described as Mansfield Road. This is shown on the Google Earth map I have posted, with Guildford Road running down the centre. You are quite right about it being developed as government housing in later years but I can add that part of this site was used for the new German Swiss International School where my two sons studied before I packed them off to boarding school in the UK - much to their disgust!

I don't think I took the photo from this particular site as it was too far over to the East and, besides, I would have needed a telephoto lens which I did not have  -  I don't think SLR cameras were available then!

Photo from below Mt. Gough.jpg
Photo from below Mt. Gough.jpg, by franwall

The Google map photo attached shows how the entire land area of 358/59 The Peak, and other old building sites on Mt Gough now seem like housing estates - my father and others would have been horrified if they were still around today. But I must admit I personally see it as natural and much needed building evolution  -  we see the same thing happening here in England in many parts!

I can't comment on all the other buildings you have listed since I didn't really pay too much attention to them back in the fifties! They were just houses that happened to be near where I lived. My interests lay elsewhere.

Best Regards  -  Frank

Submitted by gw on Sat, 2018-01-27 14:40.

Hi Frank,

Thanks for your feedback. I'm particularly interested to see you refer to the area now occupied by Guildford and Mansfield Roads as "the old bomb site". I don't know if you've seen it already, but there's a photo of the bombing of the nearby junction of Guildford and Peak Roads which you may find interesting at https://gwulo.com/atom/20401. 

I'm trying to establish the chronology of development of the Guildford and Mansfield Road area. The 1924 map (https://gwulo.com/atom/13018) shows it as occupied by only a "Military Sanitarium", the 1957 map at www.hkmaps.hk doesn't label it but shows it as still largely undeveloped, Mansfield Road Government Quarters were completed in 1965 (https://gwulo.com/node/18939), and the 1975 map at www.hkmaps.hk shows the whole area fully developed. Taken together with your comment that the area was an "old bomb site" in the late 1950's, I presume that the old Sanitarium building was bombed out during the war and wasn't redeveloped until the early 1960's. Is that your understanding? Most grateful for any additional info you have.

Concerning the location from where you took your photo, I don't think you were standing on Peak Road as No's 60-66 Peak Road, which were positioned just above Peak Road, are a long way infront of you.

 

Submitted by franwall on Sat, 2018-01-27 20:11.

Hello again

Thanks for your message.

First about the Guildford Rd. site  -  what I do seem to remember is the fact that there was a lot of waste ground as well as building debris so I guess that must have been the old Military Sanitarium you mention. I assumed this was bomb damage but it could well have just been building demolishment. That was back in the early 50’s when Hong Kong was still getting back on its feet so to speak after the war years under the Japanese. In fact my own father stayed behind for a year in HK after being released from Stanley Camp in order to get the trams and track in working order once again. Otherwise he would have returned immediately to recuperate with family back in the UK.

When my sons were at the GSIS in later years at the Guildford Rd. site (mid/late seventies) the site was already quite well developed, but I have been absolutely staggered to note how much further this development has progressed from the Google Earth Street View coverage I looked at the other day. And I note that the German Swiss International School is still there!

Going back to my Mt. Gough photo – what you must appreciate is the fact that it was a very long time ago – between 1950 and 1957 ie, 65++ years ago. In those days I wandered about all over the place –even down hillsides where roads or paths didn’t even exist. I must have looked up from “somewhere” within the yellow circle I placed on the Google map – or possibly even further to the right directly below Brockhurst, then spotted the skyline with the houses above me and took a photo. So I may not have been on Peak Rd. itself, but obviously somewhere near.

If you look at Severn Rd. where it turns sharply upwards to reach Pollocks Corner (junction of Plantation Rd. and Pollocks Path) alongside 358 The Peak where I lived, and then look straight down towards Peak Road you will see that there were no houses immediately below at this point – no’s. 60-66 were much more over to the right, eastwards. See below:

https://gwulo.com/node/40159#17/22.26742/114.15894/Map_by_ESRI-Markers/100

(this needs to be blown up larger to see the detail I have outlined above)

I hope this has been helpful in someway but I’m afraid that’s as much as my almost 82 years old brain can remember.

Best regards  -  Frank

Submitted by gw on Sun, 2018-01-28 00:26.

Hi Frank,

Thanks for your latest informative comments. Personally, I find it difficult enough trying to identify the subject matter of some of my own recent photos - never mind remembering where I was standing when I took them. In 65 years I'll have no chance! Please accept my apologies for posing such an unfair question, but thanks very much for answering it.

Submitted by franwall on Mon, 2018-01-29 02:02.
Hello gw I guess the best advice we can both give budding young photographers is to keep good records of their prized photos! And thanks to you I have now acquired a clearer understanding of where all those houses on Mt Gough were actually
Photo from below Mt. Gough.jpg
located and their names. Cheers! Frank