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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

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Union Church

Submitted by David on Mon, 11/30/2009 - 16:16

A recent RAS talk by Dr Brooke Himsworth covered the history of Union Church. It's currently on Kennedy Road, but he explained this is the fourth church building already. It has moved twice, and disappeared once in its 150+ year history.

The church was founded by James Legge, an active man in Hong Kong's early history. The first church was built on Hollywood road around 1844/5.

Next they moved to Staunton Street, opening a more substantial church there in 1865.

Marble Hall / Admiralty House [1904-1953]

Submitted by David on Tue, 11/24/2009 - 10:14

Built as Sir Paul Chater's residence. Later it became the residence of the Naval Commander-in-Chief of the China Squadron, and was known as "Admiralty House".

It was damaged by fire in the 1940s, shortly after the end of the war. "It apparently stood derelict until demolition commenced in November 1953 and a block of government flats was erected."

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.