View from the Peak | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

View from the Peak

View from the Peak
Submitted by Alison.

View from Lugard Road looking towards Kowloon

Date picture taken (may be approximate): 
Sunday, January 1, 1950
Gallery: 
1950s Hong Kong
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Comments

Submitted by marlowe on Wed, 2011-03-30 18:54.

Your date of 1950 is a little early, with the Star Ferry Terminal completed, it hasto be 1956 or after, I can't see the chartered Bank, so it must be before 1959

Submitted by moddsey on Thu, 2011-03-31 06:23.

I tend to agree with Marlow on the date. Plus one can also see the completed reclaimed runway at Kai Tak which opened in  1958.

Submitted by Alison. on Sat, 2011-04-02 07:27.

As I don't know the exact date, I did what the instructions said on loading the pictures - which was if it was in the 50's but you are unsure when, then click 1950-01-01. !  I am sure the photo was taken from our house on Lugard Road and it was definitely before 1958 because by then we were living at Mt. Kellett.

Submitted by David on Sat, 2011-04-02 23:02.

Alison, no problem, often the first date is a rough guess, then if we can narrow it down we leave a comment. Looks like 1957 is the date that best fits the comments so far.

Regards, David

Submitted by annelisec on Sun, 2011-04-03 21:24.

This was not taken from the current 30 Lugard Road.  You cannot see TST from that group of houses.  This is likely from along Lugard Road nearer the Peak Tram.

[Deleted]

Submitted by Alison. on Wed, 2011-04-06 18:26.

No, they did not.  The flats were owned by British General Electric Company - and all the apartments were rented to European staff.  I have the names of all the occupants in the early 50's - from 1953 to 1957.  Who is Mr. Liu?????  Maybe he moved there after 1958.  The house below was two flats which was rented by two Dutch families - they worked for a Dutch insurance/shipping company.  They were good friends of mine and I am still in touch with them.  Another Dutch family lived on the left hand side (can't remember the number) but he was a diamond dealer with twin sons - whom I also have contact with.

Submitted by annelisec on Sat, 2014-10-18 02:54.

House numbers were as below:

No. 28 Lugard Road
1960s John, Isobel and Dorothy Park

No. 29 Lugard Road
Late 1960s - Mae and Leroy Pedersen and children

No. 30 Lugard Road

No. 34 Lugard Road - Dragon Lodge
About 1964, Julia Blitz, age about 10, lived in Dragon Lodge.
About 1968 twin teenage girls live there.

No. 34B Lugard Road - Westcrag
Late 1960s - Mr. Liu

High
West		    

34
Dragon
Lodge

 31  
  34
Westcrag		 34B 30 29 28

Submitted by Alison Liu on Sat, 2013-10-26 12:14.
Corrections to the list submitted by annelisec: 34 was is Westcrag , 1st house along the rd., 34B was 34's veggie patch. 34 was built by Mr. Franklin and from 1960 to 1995, the Liu family's home It was designed built by the same architect who built no. 32/Dragon Lodge for his own family then later rented out to tenants, the Blitzes, the Nossels ('twin girls ') ... There was another house on left side of rd. referred to by my family in it's time as the 'Loeschel's' Mr. L. was in printing machinery business, John Wimbush , R.I.P. also moved in w his young family when they 1st arrived; After 34/34B was Hirst Mansions built by HK electric for staff initially, John Ling, think 1st Chinese Director & family (wife, Candy & 2 daughters) were there , the Murrays w their 3 children .. Further on, on the right was the 'Pedersen's' rented, then last of the lot was 'John Park's

Submitted by Alison. on Thu, 2013-10-31 10:22.

I lived at 30 Lugard Road (Hirst Mansions) in the 1950's - in fact we moved there when the building was finished and it was for the staff of BGEC (British General Electric Company). I think it was 1953. We were in Flat No 1 and the other flats were all for staff, amongst them Alan and Gwen Maldon, Bill and Helen Knights, Ralph and Dolores Capell.  I went to the Peak School and the headmistress was Miss Ogle - later Mrs John Park.  We were friends with the Blitz family (and another friend is still in touch with them) who lived at Dragon Lodge and next door was a house divided into two flats where two Dutch families lived, the Van der Voort family and the Hoeksema family.  In 1957 we moved to the General Manager's house which was at Mount Kellett (147 the Peak and later 71 Mount Kellett Road).  I have many photos of that time - of Lugard Road and the houses. I recall next to our apartments was "the Ruins" which we used to explore after school.  I also have pictures of that as well.    Hope that clarifies some of the history!

Submitted by David on Thu, 2013-10-31 21:01.

Hi Alison, Thanks for the extra information. We have individual pages for many of the places you've listed. If you can add any anecdotes or photos to them, they will be very welcome:

Regards, David

Submitted by PVan on Tue, 2014-05-27 19:45.

Hi David

Alison is right abt Lugard Rd  - my family was one of the Dutch families living at #31 - we moved there from Tai Po Rd in late '53 (after my brother was born) and left HK (for Australia) in Feb 1959. At first we had French neighbours (the Hilaire family) in the downstairs apt. and then the Hoeksema family from Holland. 

not in Dragon Lodge! The Blitz family - South Africans - lived there; I was friendly wth Gerard; I do not recall that Francis was around much as he was several years older than Gerard & I  - so presumably he was up to 'other stuff'. I recall the addition to their family: Julia born in '57 or '58 ? 

One of our pasttimes was to blockade the road when American sailors came by, strolling with their Chinese  g/f's  - they had to pay us a 5 or 10 cents toll to pass!  There must be lots of pics floating around in the US of us kids standing there in a line across Lugard Rd - Alison as the eldest, would do most of the talking .... our parents took a dim view of this and put a stop to it soon enough!

We used to spend the 'toll' we collected on ice creams ('beanos' were our favourites altho' frowned on by my parents as they were possibly not pasturised- Dairy Farm produce only was acceptable!!)

========

 ooops  a gremlin deleted a para after the first one above  - it seems.

 'not Dragon Lodge' should be preceded by a paragraph abt 'the ruins' which Alison referred to . If I remember correctly our amahs used to try to dissuade us from venturing in there as it was quite dilapidated and dangerous - so I think the massacre of the nuns story in WW2 was made up not for Dragon Lodge but for those 'ruins', to scare us and make sure we were too frightened to go there!  

happy trails

Peter    

 

Submitted by David on Wed, 2014-05-28 13:41.

Hi Peter,

Thanks for the extra stories. I haven't seen a photo of the Lugard Road blockade, but now I'll recognise it if I see it!

Your idea about 'the ruins' makes sense. Do you know which site they'd be today?

Regards, David

Submitted by PVan on Wed, 2014-05-28 15:04.

David

The 'blockade' was formed by 4 or 5 of us holding hands and lining up across the road - the chief 'blockader' stood in front and summoned the ppl to stop and pay up.  My little brother was the look-out - he climbed up a tree to spot oncoming traffic - he could get up higher in the tree than most of us older kids as he was smaller!

The drive way from Lugard Rd up to the ruined bldgs was off the same wide bit of road that cars used to access Hirst Mansions - right handside turn up to Hirst and left hand side turn up the drive to the ruined bldgs.  I'm pretty sure I remember the amah saying it was not wise to go there as some murders had happened there.     

I'll ask my brother (he lives in Holland) to scan some pics of the ruins   - he's the keeper of the family archive

rgds

Peter

Submitted by David on Thu, 2014-05-29 18:25.

Hi Peter,

Yes please, it'll be good to see how the ruins used to look.

I walked past there today, and took photos of the area you described (once you click to view, you can pan around and zoom in):

Regards, David

Submitted by PVan on Sat, 2014-05-31 12:20.

David

thanks for the pan shot of the #29 #30 side of Lugard Rd - the pathway down to #31 is opposite the garbage bins -  I Googled it a few days ago and saw there were some realtors' for sale signs  advertising a vacant block which has council permission for 2 houses to be built. Taken for Google Earth last year in Oct - is the sign still there ? Surely the site hasn't been vacant since demolition of the 2 apts in 1984?  Such prime real estate!  

I checked with my sister Anne - she visited there in 1986 and saw that the fence along Lugard Rd had been boarded up so she could not see properly what was going on down slope on-site - but she was pretty sure there was no new construction.  Unlike at the 'ruins' site (#29) which she said were demolished while our family still lived at 31 -ruins knocked down and a  new house built there in '57 or '58 (I have no memory of this)

I'll get my bro' to do some searching through the family Lugard Rd photos for a shot of the 'ruins'  

rgds

Peter

Submitted by annpake on Sun, 2021-10-24 18:27.

He was the son of James Ralph Capell and Helen Nannie Capell

In 1939 census he was on leave from Hong Kong and living  in Hammermith London. Date of birth 15 August 1910

 

Submitted by Alison. on Mon, 2021-10-25 16:35.

I wondered what happened to him - I knew he was a POW during the war, I think at Stanley, he worked for the BGEC and was friends with my family during the 50's and 60's.  He married a Canadian widow in the late 50's/early 60's and she had a 14 year old daughter called Ronne. We werre at the wedding and I remember it well, I was about 12 I think.   We were in touch for years and I think he moved to Brisbane, Queensland but lost touch then.  I wonder what happened to Ronne and her family.

Submitted by annpake on Tue, 2021-10-26 21:20.

Electoral Register Australia  

In 1972 Ralph Stewart Capell was living at 140 Ashgrove Avenue Ashgrove Brisbane and at the same address was Dolores Mae Capell and his sister Violet Helen Capell.

In 1980 he was lving at 140 Ashgrove Avenue Ashgrove Brisbane. No one else listed at the address. Violet Helen Capell died in 1980.

Submitted by Alison. on Tue, 2021-10-26 06:43.

Thank you!