Thorpe manor,May road | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

Thorpe manor,May road

hi was just wondering if anybody had any photo's of Thorpe manor along May road from the 1950's?My mum Marion used to live there when she was younger and i was hoping someone had an old photo of it or maybe you remember her.Marion Reynolds formely Brown, daughter of Norman and janet Brown. Oh yeah and she is a twin. If anyone could help that would be great was hoping to get a photo in time for mums 65th birthday.

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hi was just wondering if anybody had any photo's of Thorpe manor along May road from the 1950's?My mum Marion used to live there when she was younger and i was hoping someone had an old photo of it or maybe you remember her.Marion Reynolds formely Brown, daughter of Norman and janet Brown. Oh yeah and she is a twin. If anyone could help that would be great was hoping to get a photo in time for mums 65th birthday

 

thanks very much

 

kanchana reynolds

Was your grandmother a member of the Ladies Recreation Club on Old Peak Road?  If so, does your Mum remember it, or was she too young ?  There is a group on facebook with old LRC photos.

  As a matter of interest did your grandfather work for Dodwells?, as Thorpe Manor was I belive Managers Quarters.

  rgds - Michael

Aye Norman Brown, yeah he worked for Dodwells!!Did you know him? I'm afraid he passed away 6 months after i was born in 1987 so i never got to know him.

 

If you have any photo's or would like to chat in length my e-mail is at the top of the page.

Thank you for your reply though i didnt think i would get much in reply's.

Take care

 sorry, i did not know him as i only joined Dodwells in HKG in 1970. I was the last occupant of Thorpe Manor and actually moved out only a couple of months before it collapsed in the 1972 landslide. I have interior pictures of my flat #2 on the ground floor and used to have some of the building but have obviously misplaced them along with numerous other old HKG photos[if early 1970s are considered old].

I have asked some members of the Teen Cheong Club[Dodwells] if they have photos.

  Michael

This is Kanchana's mum Marion aged 65!  We came out to HK as babies after the war on the Empress of Australia in '46.  We lived in three places as I recall.  The top peak tram station which had only three flats the middle of which was ours then Hillcrest near the new peak school which my folks were turfed out of for noisy parties!  then the irreplaceable Thorpe Manor which I clearly do not have to describe to you.  My folks occupied the ground floor left as you enter - was that yours!  I can easily visualise it inside.  If ever you find interiors please let us have one or two. 

Thank you so much for clarifying the history of its demise.  You clearly got out just by a whisker! 

In the early 90s I took Kanchana as a baby and my husband to HK and I described to him what to expect on the train to the new territories!  I told him about the pig farms, the paddy fields, the duck farms and the water buffalo - what we saw was Sha Tin with its race course and a population exceeding that of Scotland's capital city!  Sha Tin in my memory was not much more than a village!  The top of the Peak and Sheko were the two places which it seemed to me had not changed.  Now I cannot remember whether Peak Mansions was still there then.  The new peak school however was familiar.

Thanks to Kanchana's efforts we have received a photo of Thorpe Manor which we of course treasure and I am going to get it framed for myself and my twin sister.

Thank you so much for your responses, memories and further contact with Teen Cheong.  I treasure them.

Sincerely     Marion (Reynolds)

PS If you send us your actual email address we would love to send you the photo.

 

 dear Marion,

  I guess it must be the same on the assumption that you mean when facing nthe entrance its the flat on the left. Those on the left were two bedroom, those on the right three bedroom. as a bachelor I only got two bedrooms.

my email address is fivestar@resurrection.com. a photo would be great and once I have your email I will send the interior photos I have.

rgds - Michael

I am sure a lot of us would like to see a picture of Thorpe Manor posted on the site.  Marion or Michael, could one of your pictures to this site?

Here are the minutes of the Legco meeting where the architect Mr. Bird is bid farewell:

http://www.legco.gov.hk/1927/h270331.pdf

page 12 (page 5 of the pdf)

Bowen Road (Albany) Filter Beds

 

 Since I never get time on my HKG visits these days to go up to May Road, can anyone advise whether the old house above Thorpe Manor which was on  Chatham Path?, is still standing/occupied.

  When I lived in Thorpe Manor 1972/73 it was being used as a school.

  Michael

Do you mean #1 Chatham Path ?

http://gwulo.com/node/5536

  Looks in far better condition than in the 1970s. presume whoever lives there is used to walking up or down the path. It was never wide enough for a vehicle.

  Is this house on the same site listed as RBL 126 INVERDRUIE on the 1912 Peak Map I earlier posted, which is on Page 23 of "more photos"?

I don't think so, because it was not built until 1927.  It appears that Inverdruie is now Knightsbridge Court (built in 1966).

This house in featured in the 1997 published book, Private Hong Kong-Where East Meets West, in a chapter titled Jungle Hideaway. The text says that it was built in 1925, and at some time not stated was an English school for 20 years. There are several pictures of the inside as decorated by the owners around the time the book was produced. The text says it took the movers two weeks to shift eveything up there and that the postman only delivers every other day. I believe these same owners used electric golf buggies for access as I remember them always being parked haphazardly around the entrance. In more recent years these have disappeared. When I walked passed the house last December and took a number of pictures, it appeared to be occupied, but by the owners or caretakers who knows.

IDJ

 

  Is the Historic listing #782, 3 May Road, the set of garages just before Catham Path/Peak Tram Bridge? If YES, they used to be the garages for the occupants of Thorpe Manor. I well remember when I lived in Thorpe Manor having to make a decision in the early hours of the morning when returning from the Back Bar/Godown whether to park in my garage and trudge up to Thorpe Manor or drive up risking scratches on the side. On friend even managed to jamb his car on the road up to T.M.

Gladdon, above the garages - click here for photo

The car problems of fivestar on the previous post did not make any sense to me until I saw the photo showing the "driveway" to Thorpe Manor - which is actually Chatham Path, here:  http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/50773834/Time-Life-Pictures

 

From 1932.

1930s May Road Garages

good find moddsey.

Just note that the ad is for 2 sets of garages; one by the tram station, and the other across from Aigburth Hall - Next to Clovelly court.

Aigburth Hall was completed in 1928.

Gladdon

The Photosynth team announced a new option to quickly build panoramas. It's certainly a lot easier than the previous tools I've used. I've run a batch of photos of the garages through it as a demo -  you can pan from side to side, and zoom in for detail: