Bungalow by the sea | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

Bungalow by the sea

Bungalow by the sea
Submitted by anonymous-01
Tags: 
John Olson

Here is another picture of the bungalow and on the right hand side you can just see two headlands. Hope this helps.

Date picture taken (may be approximate): 
Thursday, January 1, 1920
Gallery: 
1920s Hong Kong
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Comments

Submitted by philk on Fri, 2010-03-19 08:11.

Could be in Tai Tam looking south. That would make the headland on the left the D'Aguilar peninsula and the one on the right possibly Beaufort or Po Toi.

Submitted by moddsey on Fri, 2010-03-19 11:55.

Not enough detail in the photo to really give a positive I.D. of the area. It is fair to say that it appears to be taken on Hong Kong Island South, perhaps the Tai Tam area as philk suggests. An interesting observation I make are the property line markers (stakes) on the ground. Are there any land records to suggest the Olson's had bought property on Island South?

Submitted by anonymous-01 on Fri, 2010-03-19 18:48.

Afriad that there are no extant papers regarding purchase of property. My forebears did a good job of burning or dumping everything they thought might leave a trail.

All that remained were pictures hence my complete ignorance and thus my thanks to all who have helped paint a picture for me of what life might have been like during those days.

The Olson family did own land in HK. The last piece was donated to the Anglican Orphanage. It was a parcel of land in the New Territories at Taipo close to  St. Christopher’s Home. This land was donated to the orphanage by Hugh Olson and his brother William Olson in memory of their mother Annie Louisa - my grandmother - in July 1969. A picture of a plaque set up to commemorate the gift appears at the end of www.thehongkonglegacy.com

Probably not there anymore.

Submitted by philk on Fri, 2010-03-19 19:29.

Was also known as the Sheng Kung Hui St Christophers Home and, coincidentally, has been back in the news lately.

The land - on Tai Po Road between tai Po and Sha Tin -  became part of a deal with Li Ka Shing whereby he would build "Deerhill Bay" on it, and the Anglican Church would get some money ($300 million) and some of the flats in the development (120 units). The land was vacated in '93 and the development came on the market in '98.

The Anglican Church has recently been chased for back payment of taxes - amounting to $180M - on the deal.

Depending on where the plaque was originally it could potentially still be in situ, there is still alot of undeveloped land in the vicinity. If you could find out the exact location I could have a look next time I am up that way.

Actually, the headland you can see could quite possibly be looking down Tolo Harbour from the approximate direction of Deerhill Bay, so you never know.

Submitted by philk on Mon, 2010-04-19 20:42.

Actually, I've been studying photos of Tolo Harbour and I don't think this is Tai Po - so I will go back to my original guess - Tai Tam with the D'aguilar headland on the left and Beaufort Island on the right.