Welcome to Gwulo

Here you'll find over 50,000 pages about old Hong Kong to explore, including over 30,000 photos. The content is added by a friendly community of people who enjoy sharing what we know about Hong Kong's history, and you are very welcome to join us.

Kind regards, David

P.S. To receive more old Hong Kong photos and stories, please sign up for our free weekly newsletter.

Grandeurs and Mysteries

Submitted by David on Tue, 11/10/2009 - 10:58

The recently added photo of Astor House was bought as part of an advertisement. When it arrived, it was clearly a page cut from a book, so we got a bonus of some more text and photos on the other side of the page. They are all listed below.

I guess the book was something like the 'Lonely Planet Guide to Asia' if you were leaving home in 1909. It must have been a weight to carry though, as this is page 257.

Windsor Hotel / Connaught House / Astor House / St. Francis Hotel [????-????]

Submitted by David on Tue, 11/03/2009 - 22:42

13, Queen's Road Central.

It looks as though this building changed hands several times. In a 1909 advertisement it is described as 'Aster House (Late Connaught Hotel)'. Then Moddsey notes that later it changed it's name from Astor House to the St. Francis Hotel. Despite the change of name, it's function stayed the same - a hotel.

The 1909 advertisement uses the spelling 'Aster' throughout, even for the 'Telegraphic Address'. However in all other references I've seen, it is spelled 'Astor'.

Wandering thru old Kowloon - Ho Man Tin Hill 1951

Submitted by Admin on Sun, 11/01/2009 - 18:22
  • 0:00 - 0:20: Various short clips around Tsim Sha Tsui
  • 0:21 - 1:43: Although the title describes it as shot in Kowloon, this section shows the old Luna Park amusement park in North Point.
  • 1:44 - 2:00: Ho Man Tin Road
  • 2:00 - end: Squatter village behind Ho Man Tin Road

4741
133601 youtube://v/62VyA5Yqvjc

Gloucester Building / Gloucester Hotel [1932-1977]

Submitted by David on Sat, 10/31/2009 - 23:08

I had the feeling that the Gloucester Building and Gloucester Hotel were two separate places (or possibly different buildings on the same plot). But the first mention of the hotel in the newspapers was the 4 Aug 1935 issue of the Sunday Herald, noting a wedding reception held there. That means the Gloucester Building and Gloucester Hotel were in existence at the same time.

So was the Gloucester Hotel the business name for the 'apartment house' described in the Feb 1932 clipping below?

Gwulo sells out

Submitted by David on Fri, 10/30/2009 - 12:10

You'll have noticed that Tuesday's photo is a bit different from the usual. But what won't have been obvious is that it's a first step towards selling old photos on Gwulo.com. Here's the story so far....

From time to time people ask if they can buy copies of the photos shown on this site. Each time I've explained that 'sorry, they aren't my photos, so you'll need to contact the owner.' Then a couple of months ago the lightbulb went on and I thought, hold on, if people want to buy old photos of Hong Kong, why shouldn't they buy them here?

Subscribe to