1961 City Hall Construction | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

1961 City Hall Construction

1961 City Hall Construction
Authors: 
Date picture taken (may be approximate): 
Thursday, June 1, 1961
Connections: 

Comments

Did the HSBC building have a chimney? It looks as though there's smoke coing out of the roof.

The bank has money to burn!

The HSBC was a modern building for its time in 1935. I think the HSBC had an internal heating system that distrubuted radiant heat throughout the building. HK Telegraph 17 October 1934 refers. 

Many years ago I read somewhere in the Chinese press that the HSBC building was the first building in Hong Kong to have air conditioning. 

breskvar

Yes,that is smoke coming from the basement of the building.From October 1973 to March 1976 when I was working in  the Main Treasury of HSBC one of my jobs was to destroy all old, contaminated and torn bank notes by burning in the incinerator in the basement. These also produced a noticeable smell!

In this photo from 1945 , I think the chimney can be seen at the western end of the roof-top. 

Thanks for the chimney/incinerator explanation. Literally "money to burn"!