Wanchai waterfront 1980

This is indeed an example of the image I was hoping for. Thanks 80sKid for pointing it out. This is evidently what had become Harcourt House, at this stage still a nurses' hostel, and within a year or two of demolition. The date of the image is interesting because it is definite. Yet the image shows that the old Chine Fleet Club had already disappeared. The decision to redevelop had been take in 1979 and the official CFC history (http://www.china-fleet.co.uk/About-us/history) implies that demolition must have begin in 1980, so clearly from this photograph getting rid of the old building was a quick business. The new building was not ready for occupation until 1985, by which time the ex-Sailors' Home and Missions to Seamen, ex-Nurses' Hostel Harcourt House had already been demolished and the new building begun.

StephenD

It wouldn't be the first time that I've grabbed the wrong end of the stick, and apologies if I've done so again, but isn't this a view of the Wanchai waterfront well to the east of the sites of Harcourt House/Sailors Home and the China Fleet Club?

The low-rise building on the waterfront, partly obstructed by the second orange structure from the stern of the ship in the foreground, is the Old Wanchai Police Station. If so, the huge tower under construction and dominating the left side of the photo would be the Sun Hung Kai Centre with the residential blocks of the Causeway Centre next to it on its right. 

It isn't the first time for me either! Thank you for spotting that - I'm sure you;re right that we are indeed further east and can't see Harcourt House. Of course the marker I should have spotted - and half did, but somehow convinced myself it didn't matter - was the absence of the old Luk Kwok Hotel a block or so to the east of Harcourt House. That it isn't visible to the right ofvthe Wanchai Police Station is further evidence that you are right. I think what I allowed myself to be misled by was the long, low building on the right which my tired brain assumed to be something to do with the Admiralty development. Idiotic, I should have seen that it was on the then still developing North Wanchai reclamation.

StephenD

Hi there,

The high rise next to the Wanchai Police Station was a hotel. I could not recall its name but it was probably shown in the photo at its prime. The Government swapped the lot with the Mormons in order to keep Kam Tong Tai (Now the Sun Yat Sen Museum) from being demolished.

The top levels of the AIA Building is also visible a bit behind the hotel.

T