The person who made this photo, Willem Kien, was director at the company which Charles worked for, Holland-China Trading Company (HCHC). HCHC had offices in Rotterdam, London, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tientsin (Tianjin). He lived at The Peak. On Gwulo.com, I found the address of Braeside: 20 MacDonnell Road, also at The Peak. For Hong Kong residents, it must have been an excellent place for leisure. Gwulo.com shows an 1907 advertisement <a href="https://old.gwulo.com/%3Ca%20href%3D"https://gwulo.com/atom/14229">https://gwulo.com/atom/14229" rel="noreferrer nofollow">gwulo.com/atom/14229</a>
"Braeside" Private Hotel
Standing in its own grounds with Tennis and Croquet lawns, large Airy and Well Furnished Rooms, every home comfort Fine View of the Harbour.
Telephone, No 690
Apply to - Mrs. F. W. Watts
Gwulo contributor annelisec also posted a quote from a 1908 book, by Marshall Pinckney Wilder "Smiling 'round the World":
<a href="https://old.gwulo.com/%3Ca%20href%3D"https://gwulo.com/node/7632">https://gwulo.com/node/7632" rel="noreferrer nofollow">gwulo.com/node/7632</a>
Owned by Sir Poshan Wei Yuk.
"Mr. Wei Yuk's handsome marble residence (to say palace would be no misnomer), which is called Braeside. The explanation for this name is that Mr. Wei Yuk learned his English (which he speaks exquisitely) in Edinburgh, from whose university he was graduated, having been the first Chinese child ever sent out of China to be educated. His house is very English in its appointments, and there are apartments truly Chinese, but we saw only the drawing and dining-room, which were very English indeed. There were present besides the host and hostess their two daughters, two sons, a niece, Mrs. Wei Yuk's brother and brother-in-law, and a few English and Americans. Mrs. Wei Yuk spoke no English, but was very gracious and charming and entirely without the reserve I had expected to find in a native Chinese."
Gwulo member Herostratus commented that the house in the background is not Braeside but the neighbouring house, currently 96 Macdonnell Road.
Courtesy Kien family archives
Comments
The house pictured is not
The house pictured is not Braeside but its neighbour, today where 96 Macdonnell Road is. I have not being able to find a name or the original number for the building anywhere as yet. The tennis court in the foreground is part of the Braeside property. The building itself would have been situated behind the photographer. Below is a picture of Braeside:
Tennis Match, Braeside Hong Kong, 1909
Thank you for your comment Herostratus, much appreciated.