ID request : grand waterfront building and pier ~1900 | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

ID request : grand waterfront building and pier ~1900

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Submitted by Jayzee on Tue, 2019-11-12 17:58

Hi there,

This photo is from a postcard labelled “Hong Kong” - but I have no idea where or what it is a picture of. It is such an impressive building yet I’ve not come across it in any other picture of old Hong Kong. I’m starting to wonder whether it is of Hong Kong at all!

Any suggestions greatly appreciated!

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Submitted by philk on Tue, 2019-11-12 23:41.

Hi, if you're talking about this image, it doesn't look like HK to me. The hills in the background seem too low-lying. 

36CE7112-6504-4376-B99B-C578C7B224BA.jpeg
36CE7112-6504-4376-B99B-C578C7B224BA.jpeg, by Jayzee

Submitted by moddsey on Wed, 2019-11-13 08:26.

Have seen the postcard quite some time ago. Could not place it to Hong Kong. I think in one instance, a reference was made to a Standard-Vacuum and Oil facility/building but cannot trace it back now. 

Update: Upon further checking, the postcard was published by Sternberg. The bottom of the postcard has been cropped. Bottom left reads Hong Kong whilst bottom right reads Petroleum Co.

Submitted by Jayzee on Wed, 2019-11-13 08:12.

Thank you both for your replies. It seems extraordinary that the postcard could be wrongly labelled! But what and where was this Petroleum Co. I wonder.

Here is another copy, currently on sale on eBay. It doesn't seem to have been sent from Hong Kong: 

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HONG-KONG-1901-view-of-shore-postcard-to-Kent...

Submitted by David on Tue, 2019-11-19 14:30.

This site has a copy labelled "Rede en haven van Penang":

https://digitalcollections.universiteitleiden.nl/view/item/916532?solr_nav%5Bid%5D=0ad6711d1d689c6eec5d&solr_nav%5Bpage%5D=6718&solr_nav%5Boffset%5D=13

Submitted by moddsey on Tue, 2019-11-19 20:48.

Good find, David. Perhaps Beach Street, Penang. The old building may be a remnant of the former Government offices in George Town. See here 

Submitted by eurasian_david on Tue, 2019-11-19 20:56.

Good find David!
 

It appears to be Victoria Pier next to Governemnt Buildings at King Edward's Place in George Town, Penang. The government buildings seen in the photos were destroyed towards the end of the Second World War. 
 

https://penang.fandom.com/wiki/King_Edward%27s_Place

On page 7 of this guide to historic George Town, the photo shown of the area shows the early construction of SWETTENHAM pier in 1904 taken from the lighthouse at Fort Cornwallis with the horizon virtually identical to the requetsed ID photo.

http://gtwhi.com.my/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/A-Guide-to-George-Town_s-Historic-Commercial-and-Civic-Precincts.pdf

The location of SWETTENHAM pier and the governemnt buidlings on King Edward's place triangulate well on map.

Submitted by sternbergman on Mon, 2020-09-28 06:06.

Thanks to those of you who tracked down the true location of this 'Petroluem Co.' postcard. I bought my own specimen of the same 'Hongkong Petroluem Co.' postcard from a stamp dealer in the Ho Mong Kok Centre on Portland Street in 2000 or 2001, and neither I nor my local ladyfriend could place it, though admittedly she wasn't particularly interested, either in my postcard collecting or in my interest in Hong Kong history!

I could only assume that the location was somewhere on the island well to the east of Causeway Bay but, as has been pointed out, the hills in the distance ar wrong. Another possibility was that the negative had been reversed to make a better composition, but now I know, and thank you all. I even bought a second specimen of the card just a few weeks ago, a better printing, and was looking at both of them earlier today. That's four or five Sternberg cards now that give erroneous locations.