Junction of Queen's Rd & Wellington St [????- ] | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

Junction of Queen's Rd & Wellington St [????- ]

Photos that show this place

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While I was researching The Great Fire of Hong Kong, this junction came up quite often as it was where the Number 5 Police Station and the first Fire Station were both located (the same triangular-shaped building occupied the space formed by the convergence of Wellington St and Queen's Road). At the time of the Fire (1878), this junction was commonly known as the Cross Roads, and was where volunteer and regular firemen were summoned by newspaper notices to turn out for regular practice, drill and inspection. Queen's Road beyond this point to the west was where the rough European Tavern District began, which was a sort of social buffer zone between Central and Tai Ping Shan. Many old photos show this junction, and most of those that I have seen appear to have been taken from a balcony of the Police Station, looking west.

Adam

I guess around 1870s.

1880s Junction of Queen's Rd and Wellington St

 

Must be 1880 or later, as there are rickshaws on the street. The photographer was looking west towards the Tavern District from the street just outside the Police/Fire Station. Nice photo, never seen this one before.

This was sold in ebay recently, Moddsey, have you bought it?

No, I have not. I note the same picture also appears in the HKPL and it gives the dates as between 1865 and 1875.

As Adam says, the presence of rickshaws on the road tends to lean to 1880s.

HF - Do you know the name of the photographer or confirmation of the date?

Another view of the crossroads here

Hello,

Does anyone heard of a lawsuit between the no. 5 police station and a nearby restaurant, Tak Wan (located at 1 Bonham Strand)? The police station complaint that the restaurant was making too much noise to disturb the firemen. The restaurant, appealing to the Britain Privy Council, won the lawsuit eventually as the lawyer maintained that Bonham Strand was in Sheung Wan, while the police station was in Central, so that the restaurant could never disturb any building located in the different district.

I would like to know when did this lawsuit occur. All the antenotes or news clips I have found did not mention the year of this event.

Sorry, not one I've heard of. I did a quick search for Tak Wan in the usual sources (http://gwulo.com/node/9110), but didn't see anything relevant.

Regards, David