Tramway Path - St. Joseph's Path | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

Tramway Path - St. Joseph's Path

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Tramway Path - St. Joseph's Path
Submitted by annelisec

This is actually what is now called St. Joseph's Path.  It is labeled on this postcard as Tramway Path - which may have been its original name.

Date picture taken (may be approximate): 
Monday, January 1, 1900
Connections: 
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Comments

Submitted by David on Wed, 2010-12-08 17:11.

Looks like an older photo than the 1950s. Maybe it shows the King George Hotel instead?

Submitted by annelisec on Wed, 2010-12-08 21:39.

Actually, you can only see the HSBC sub-Manager's House and the Helena May both on Garden Road.  I can't identify the little house on the right.  Any houses are out of sight on the lawns.  But where is the photographer standing ?  Kennedy Road does not make sense because the tram should be right there.

Submitted by David on Fri, 2010-12-10 12:11.

If the photographer was on Kennedy Road looking down St. Joseph's Path, they'd get a similar view to this one. Maybe the postcard's caption is wrong?

Submitted by annelisec on Fri, 2010-12-10 20:03.

Your 1924 map shows this path with the correct contours.  It doesn't look like it is there anymore - perhaps just a nullah.   The German Club went in on the right, and on the left is IL 1642 and 1506.

I've changed the relevant place from Zetland Lodge, to the Club Germania, whose lawn can be seen lower right.

Submitted by David on Sat, 2010-12-11 14:08.

Unfortunately the lower-right corner of the 1924 map isn't very accurate. I did my best to line it up, but it doesn't work out completely. It's also odd they show the 'German Club' since that had ceased to exist several years earlier.

So although it looks different, the path you're describing is the same one, St Joseph's Path.

IL 1506 was the site of old Club Germania building, and  IL1642 the lot where the extensions to St Joseph's College were built in the early 1920s (see Plate 3-5a, 1930-45, Mapping Hong Kong).

Regards, David

Submitted by annelisec on Mon, 2010-12-13 17:16.

 

Looking up St. Joseph's Path

Submitted by breskvar on Mon, 2010-12-13 17:52.

This path can't be called St.Joseph's path back then because St. Joseph's didn't move there until the 1910s if I remember right.  But if this was called Tramway Path then, what about the Tramway Path that we know today?

But if we take this as St.Joseph's Path, then the photographer was looking down the hill, and he would have Kennedy Road at his back.  From the angle, he was likely just below the ground level of Kennedy Road.  The steps extend from the right of the photo, behind the photographer, takes a right-angled turn and then goes straight down the path, as shown in the foreground.  It looks exactly the same today.

The right hand side of the photo is now part of Hong Kong Park.  The left is St. Joseph's College today, with it's various 'new' buildings.  The building that cannot be identified on the right shall now be the Hong Kong Squash Centre. 

Notice that the path in the photo turns right again at the end.  Today that is where it intersects Tramway Path.  It is a cul-de-sac for tourist buses and taxis.  Around where the red building on the top right is, there is now an oldish looking one-storied structure that houses the WWF (below the flyover of Cotton Tree Drive).

Sorry I don't know much else apart from the current scenery of that area.  Can someone tell me more about that WWF building?

Edited to add: Annelise, may I ask when your photo immediately above my reply was taken?  Comparing the two, it seems the lawn in front of the German Club was not as prominent in the second photo.  The first photo has the entire left side blocked off like a cliff face.  Was the first photo taken later than the second, so that someone must have extended the size of the lawn and knocked over a few trees in the process? 

 

Submitted by annelisec on Tue, 2010-12-14 02:29.

The postcard was undated, from eBay.  The photo of the German Club was from a book published about 1908.

the WWF building has a history, but I can't find is quickly online.

Submitted by 80sKid on Tue, 2010-12-14 15:51.

as far as I know the building is recent (as in last 10 years). There's a plaque outside the building as part of the Central Green Trail or somesuch. it was built for/by the WWF sofar as I recall

Submitted by Adam on Tue, 2010-12-14 17:42.

I'm citing myself here, but looking now at an article on the Peak Tram I wrote for the Sept 23, 1996 issue of TIME magazine, I mentioned that the WWF building was built in 1988. I can't remember my sources though, but I'm usually fairly reliable : )

Submitted by breskvar on Thu, 2010-12-16 11:05.

Thank you very much Annelise, 80skid and Adam.  I had no idea it was that recent.  I naively assumed that every short structure in Central must have a long history!  If it was built in 1988, it would make sense to build something this short since it must be under the flyover.