The Sun Department Store / Dah Sing Department Store [c.1930-1973]
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Submitted by David on Mon, 2014-01-13 18:21
Current condition:
Demolished / No longer exists
Date Place completed:
c.1930-01-01 (Year, Month, Day are approximate)
Date Place demolished:
c.1973-03-31 (Day is approximate)
This building had a distinctive tower at either end of the building, and a taller pagoda-like tower in the center of the roof.
Photos that show this place
 1911 |
 1930 |
 1935 |
Comments
the sun company history
Hong Kong Dah Sing Department Store (The Sun) was founded in Hong Kong in 1912 by the Cai Chang brothers raising HKD 4 million, and then opened Guangzhou Dah Sing Company in Guangzhou, and then opened Shanghai Dah Sing Company in Shanghai. In 1947, Cai Chang's family settled in Hong Kong, and the Shanghai company entrusted an agent to manage it. In 1948, Cai Chang half gave up domestic business in China. After the establishment of the Communist Party of China, Cai Chang concentrated on running the business in Hong Kong. Dah Sing Department Store in Hong Kong is located next to Wing On Company in Central and operated until the early 1970s. The lifts in the store are of the open-air type, which is very nostalgic. At that time, Hong Kong society was very advanced, but the building and facilities of the store still maintained the original appearance of the early Republic of China, which is very rare. In May 1972, Jun Lung (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd. announced the acquisition of all Dah Sing shares. Soon after being acquired by Kwan Lung, Dah Sing merged with Hong Kong construction company Gonghe Enterprise Co., Ltd. in December of the same year, and Gonghe became the owner of Dah Sing. After the merger, Gonghe demolished the Dah Sing Department Store in March 1973, officially ending Dah Sing's more than half a century of department store business; while Dah Sing was transformed into a construction and property group[1].
(from https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%A4%A7%E6%96%B0%E7%99%BE%E8%B2%A8_(%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF))
Another reference: https://elevenstrokes.blogspot.com/2015/12/blog-post_31.html
Opening date 1912
As pointed out in the comment above, the company was founded in 1912 and opened it's store on Des Voeux Road in the same year. To me it seems as if the company had two adjacent buildings:
a slim one on Wing Wo Road, streching from Des Voeux to Connaught Road
a wider one on Des Voeux Road including six houses in the block next to the Harbour Office. This block did not extend to Connaught Road, there were six other houses at 92-97 Connaught Road.
Rebuilding 1930
The Public Works Report for 1929 refers:
In course of erection: —
A large Departmental Store for The Sun Co. on P.R.M.L. 63, Des Voeux Road Central and Connaught. Road Central was in progress.
This new building can be seen below (on the very right hand side):