This photo is inscribed by my cousin, Diana Warren, “View from our roof to Kowloon”. “Our roof” should therefore be 19 Broadwood Road, also known as “The Bungalow”, built next door to “The Towers” at the top of Broadwood Road. As “The Bunglalow” was only one storey high, I’m surprised that the camera is looking down on the nearby buildings. I wonder if the photo was actually taken from the flat roof of The Towers and that the nearby roof is that of The Bungalow itself. Orientation isn’t my strong suit. I’d be grateful if local experts could tell me which road the further building would have been in – probably not Broadwood Road. Also what is the flat-topped mound in the distance on the left? The photo should have been taken in 1934-38 before Cicely Warren, (daughter-in-law of CE Warren) and her children left Hong Kong. The inscription isn’t necessarily correct as it was added some fifty years later.
Jill
Comments
View to Kowloon
I'm sure someone else will correct me but I think your date range may be later than the image suggests. Zooming in I can just make out what I presume to be the Kowloon railway station tower, but I cannot see the nearby Peninsula Hotel that was opened in 1928. This building would normally rise well above the waterfront at this time. The earth mound on the left is probably the remains of Morrison Hill that was progressively being cut down for the East Praya reclamation, although the perspective seems odd as the racecourse should be down below on the left somewhere. All a bit before my time!
View to Kowloon
I agree with IDJ that the hill on the left is Morrison Hill, pushing the date of this photo back to the 1920s.
The photographer is above the flat roof, but not much higher, and roughly level with the curved building in the distance. If you have any maps of the area that show the outlines of buildings, they would probably pin it down, as the flat-roof building is roughly T-shaped.
Looking at this photo from Sean, I wonder if the photographer could have been on the building with the line drawn above it. Then the flat-roof building is next left, and the curved building is on the left edge of the photo:
Regards, David
View to Kowloon
Taking the photograph from the roof of a building further down the road would certainly explain the close perspective of the remains of Morrison Hill and the lack of distance to take in the racecourse
Whose roof in Broadwood Road?
Many thanks IDJ and David for your analyses of this mystery photograph. David, could you transfer it to the 1920s gallery? I'm trying to work out the Why of the photo, which would help to fix the When and Where. There was an earlier correspondence at http://gwulo.com/atom/19433 about the excavation of Morrison Hill to which I contributed, as I had found an application from my grandfather, CE Warren to build 15 houses there. I never found out who won the application, as various documents were missing, but there might have been a family interest in photographing the view towards Morrison Hill nevertheless. The photo that I have has been enlarged, but its condition seems better than pre-1920 family photos. The crayon mark on Sean's 1923 postcard of Happy Valley would seem to point to the Olson family house at 13 Broadwood Road. Perhaps it was received from his grandfather, John Olson, who temporarily returned to Hong Kong when my own grandfather, Charles Warren, died in June 1923. Although the Olson photos always show Charles and Ethel Olson in residence at no. 13, the rates were paid in John's name until at least the mid-1930s. It's not impossible that the photo was taken in the 1920s from no. 13, as my grandmother, Hannah Warren seems to have remained on good terms with her younger brother, Charles, until he left Hong Kong in 1926/27, and also Ethel with my aunt, Cicely Warren. Several photos show Hannah and Charles together at The Towers around 1923 after she had returned to Hong Kong from England. I'm afraid I don't have any diagrammatic maps of the houses on Broadwood Road and would be grateful for any other comments or comparisons.
Jill
Re: Date of Main Photo
Looking at David's photo here from 1924, deep incisions had already been made into Morrison Hill. I think the pale area in your photo shows the commencement work in excavation of the hill on the eastern side. Work on the Praya East Reclamation Scheme began in November 1921, which may infer the photo was taken around 1921/22.
The 1922.1 map: https://www.hkmaps.hk/viewer.html gives the outline of houses on Broadwood Road.
What is the date window for the photo?
I agree that the lack of incisions in Morrison Hill in our photo pushes its date further back than 1924. Leslie Warren didn't arrive back in Hong Kong with his new wife until May 1923 so that puts the authorship of the photo into question and certainly doesn't resolve the reason why it might have been taken. Back to the drawing board, I'm afraid. I'm not good at interpreting maps, but thank you for the link, and maybe someone else can help.
Now that I've opened the link and zoomed in, it seems to show contemporary buildings such as Jardine's Lookout Garden Mansions, rather than the 1922 houses. Am I right?
Re: Jardine's Lookout Garden Mansions
The current Jardine's Lookout Garden Mansions on Inland Lot No. 2838 comprises two blocks and were completed in 1961.
The 1922.1 map shows the layout of the same site from the 1920s. I. L. No. 2838 at the junction of Broadwood Road and a New Road (later Tai Hang Road) was sold at public auction on 17 September 1928 with the stipulation that two European houses be built in two years.
1922 Broadwood Road house names
Thanks for clarifying that, moddsey. I'm just a bit puzzled that Broadwood Park seems to be roughly where I would expect The Towers to have been in 1922. I can't match up the names of the other houses with the 1922 Broadwood Road houses and they seem more widely spaced, unless houses have been purposely missed out. As I said, I'm not good at interpreting maps and I'm sure I must be misunderstanding something quite obvious. I think I need to do some more homework. Apologies.
Update after homework - here is a photo I uploaded before to compare with moddsey's 1920s photo of Leighton Hill and Broadwood Ridge. The perspective is different as it is taken from lower down, making the tree cover more of an obstacle. The date is spring 1922. The view is also further to the right of Broadwood Ridge and includes The Towers at far right as a point of reference. It would be good to look at the two photos next to each other.
1928 Sale of Inland Lot No. 2838
For information, the captioned sale mentioned that I. L. No. 2838 adjoined I.L. No. 2478. An auction for the latter lot took place in 1924 with the site being described as “near Broadwood Road”.
(Update: I. L. No. 2478 is at the top end of Broadwood Road opposite I.L. No 2838. It is today's "The Colonnade" and "Lincoln Court", which were completed in 2001 and 1959 respectively.)
Re: Photo
Perhaps the photo (circa 1920) below may assist when looking at the five buildings from right to left (i.e. from south to north).
I think the photo was taken from the building on the extreme right as it appears to be separated from the building (in your photo showing the rooftop) immediately to its left by an embankment or high wall. This may be the structure that can be viewed in your photo at bottom right. The other buildings appear to be more or less in line with the scene in your photo. Food for thought for contributors to comment.
1920s houses in Broadwood Road
That's a persuasive hypothesis about the building on the far right of the photo and the darker building below it. I wonder if anyone can work out which house that building is. I've been trying to compare the buildings in this photograph with the buildings in Sean Olson's 1920s postcard with the line designating his family's house, 13 Broadwood Road. It's the only image we know of the entire house from the front. It could be the house on which the photographer was standing, but I'm having difficulty recognizing the large house in the background of the photo "View to Kowloon". At one stage I thought it might be The Towers, but the turrets aren't symmetrical. I can't think of another house with turrets in Broadwood Road. If the photo of Morrison Hill really can't be any later than 1922, that's also a problem. The entire Warren family was in England from July to end September 1922 - the Olsons too. Charles Warren then returned alone. If the photo could have been taken as late as May 1923, then Leslie Warren, newly arrived, could have been the photographer. I'd be most grateful for the views of other Gwulo contributors who might have early photos or postcards of the row of houses in Broadwood Road from afar. Come in Nona, Peter Braudé, Angela Niles - all welcome!
Here is a photo of the mystery house by itself cropped from the larger "View to Kowloon" photo: