Wardley House/HSBC Headquarters Building (1st Generation) [1857-1882]

For no particular reason it works the other way - you edit the later building and add the earlier one to it. Which I've just done. Thanks for adding this, we now have the sequence from 1st to 4th generation.

Any idea what was on this spot before HSBC owned it?

1855-1882?

This Google search shows notes from Solomon Bard:

When FB Johnson and James Bowman took over the Company, the name of WH Wardley & Co. was retained. In January 1855 they established a branch in Hong Kong, building premises (which became known as Wardley House) at 1 Queen's Road. ...

And this shows notes from Dan Waters:

Today 'Wardley' is the name of an investment company associated
with the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank. In 1864, Wardley House
(demolished in 1882 when its new bank building was completed) was
the first premises of the Bank. William Henry Wardley was a staff
member of Gibb Livingston. He started his own firm about 1850.
Although the company was taken over by F.B. Johnson and James
Bowman the name was retained. It stopped trading about 1861, before
the Bank was established. But the name, Wardley, has been perpetuated.

HFSiu recently added this photo from the early 1860s.

On the far left it looks as though there's either an empty plot, or a single-storey building.

But then in this photo from Moddsey, taken late 1860s to early 1870s, the three-storey Wardley House can be seen:

I've just written to the HSBC Archives to see if they can help tell us more about when the three-storey building was completed.

I've received this very helpful reply from Matthew Edmondson, HSBC's Archives Collections Manager:

I have summarised the information we hold on the building from our records below:

In May 1857 the import and export agents John Bowman and F.B Johnson purchased Marine Lot 104, on which they built the property in question. On completion of the building it was leased to Messrs Wardley & Company* and became known as Wardley House.  A few years later, the building was extended to include an extra wing, facing onto the praya.

In 1862, the building was assigned to D. Sassoon, Sons & Co., [Sassoon's closed on the mortgage to the property, as the branch of Wardley did not prosper].

On 28 October 1864 the Provisional Committee of HSBC approved the rental of Wardley House, as the first premises of the Bank (Arthur Sassoon sat on the Bank’s Provisional Committee, which perhaps facilitated the initial lease of Wardley House.).  The Bank initially moved into the Eastern side of the building, for an initial rent of $500 per annum.  In 1866, the Bank purchased the portion of the property they occupied outright in 1866, for $60,000.  It was not until 1882, that the Bank was able to purchase the other half of Wardley House, which was then occupied by the Chartered Mercantile Bank (initially leased from Sassoon's in 1863).

We do not have any records showing how the building was used between the closure of Wardley and its occupation by HSBC.

*W. H. Wardley had been a clerk with Gibb Livingston and Co. in Canton, and founded his own company W. H. Wardley & Co.  He died in Shanghai in 1853, but his firm lived on, and established a branch of the firm in Hong Kong in 1855 (closed 1861?).

I think the earlier photo above was taken before "A few years later, the building was extended to include an extra wing, facing onto the praya." It seems that the "extension, facing onto the Praya" is what we see in the second photo. It also seems likely the extension was finished before the two banks signed their leases in 1863 and 1864.

So tentative dates are:

• 1857 May The import and export agents John Bowman and F.B Johnson purchased Marine Lot 104, extends from Queen's Rd C to Praya. Wardley House built, initially on southern half of lot
• 1857-1863 Date unsure: Building extended to Praya on north
• 1862 The building was assigned to D. Sassoon, Sons & Co.
• 1863 Chartered Mercantile Bank lease western half
• 1864 HSBC lease eastern half
• 1864 HSBC buy eastern half
• 1882 HSBC buy western half

More help from Matthew:

We don't know for certain when Wardley House was demolished, but in November 1882 it is noted in the minutes that the Board of Directors agreed to rent premises in the P&O building as a temporary office during the construction work - so that would suggest late 1882.