Marco Polo Hotel | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

Marco Polo Hotel

Primary tabs

Submitted by philk on Sun, 2009-03-15 23:38

Am I right to think that this is where the Kowloon Hotel now stands? It looks like The Peninsula in the left hand side and Middle Road going between there and MP.

Can any old-timers confirm?

(NB: Photo is courtesy of the HK Public Library system)

Date picture taken (to nearest decade for older photos): 
1963
Image Galleries: 
1960s Hong Kong
Tags: 
Nathan Road
Marco Polo Hotel
  • Log in or register to post comments

Comments

Submitted by moddsey on Mon, 2009-03-16 07:07.

Yes, it was the same site. The mezzanine floor was taken by the Hong Kong Bank. Note the three storey structure (probably the Star Hotel) at the corner of Peking and Nathan Roads.

1960s Marco Polo Hotel

Submitted by philk on Mon, 2009-03-16 10:00.

Thanks Moddsey, glad to know that my eyes aren't failing me. Any idea when the Marco Polo moved out?

By the way, where do you get all these photos from, did you take them all or are they just the product of years of collecting? I never cease to be impressed by your ability to whip out a picture at the drop of a hat :-)

Cheers

Phil

Submitted by moddsey on Mon, 2009-03-16 19:53.

Phil, if you view the larger photo of TST on this  page: http://gwulo.com/node/1269

you will observe there was another hotel to the left of the Marco Polo. I think it was called the Merlin Hotel. In 1982, the Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotel Group, owners of the Marco Polo (as well as the Pen) at the time bought the Merlin and demolished both hotels. The Kowloon Hotel which covered both lots was completed in 1986.

Old postcards of Hong Kong can still be bought in curio shops on Hollywood Rd. Cheers.

 

 

Submitted by philk on Mon, 2009-03-16 22:02.

Thanks again Moddsey. Great link as well. One of these days I will make the effort to have a wander around Hollywood Rd shops and browse. Seems to be a treasure trove.

Submitted by Bozworth on Sun, 2016-12-18 17:04.

This Marco Polo thing is built to confuse.  I used to bank at the Hongkong Bank in the Peninsula Court in the 70s.  The banking chamber was quite grand.  People write of a Marco Polo Restaurant there which I do not recall.  With the huge signage, your account here of a hotel of that name in the building makes more sense. Somehow Wharf took the name for their Marco Polo Hotel opened in 1982 in Harbour City (next to the Prince), managed by Peninsula Group, only later to demolish it in their grab for more floor area in redeveloping it as The Gateway.  Finally, having established a hotel management company called Marco Polo, they snapped up the Hong Kong Hotel and renamed it the Marco Polo Hong Kong.  Now it seems we're to have another Marco Polo but on Hong Kong Island, in the Murray Building on Garden Road.  Hence we will probably end up with the Marco Polo Hong Kong Hong Kong and the Marco Polo Hong Kong Kowloon.  What a mess.