Damaged house at Peak

Mon, 12/04/2017 - 02:36

Roof blown off from house on the Peak due to storm or typhoon. Photo taken between autumn 1924 and spring 1928.

Date picture taken
1920s
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I reckon the pathway in the foreground is the one running from Mount Kellett Road up to Eredine. The path is seen clearly towards the top left corner of this c.1929 pic.

1929 Buildings on the Peak
1929 Buildings on the Peak, by moddsey

 

If so, Eredine would be out of sight to the high right of the initial photo and the building with the damaged roof would be the next one lower down the hillside than Eredine, which was Kellett Manor.

This 1911 photo shows Eredine and Kellett Manor in the distance peeping out from behind the left slope of Mount Kellett. Notably they had flat and pitched roofs respectively in both the 1911 and 1929 pics.  

View west from Taikoo
View west from Taikoo, by Admin

I'm still in two minds over the identity of the white bungalow in the bottom left corner of the pic. I think it's the Church Mission Society (CMS) Sanitarium, but if not it's part of Matilda Hospital.

The stated time frame for this photo is 1924 to 1928. According to the Reports of the Director of the Royal Observatory for those years, the only major typhoon to hit Hong Kong did so on 19th and 20th August 1927. It caused extensive damage on The Peak, including the destruction of one of the blocks at Des Voeus Villas, just a few hundred meters from where the photo was taken. I wouldn’t be surprised if the damage to the roof of Kellet Manor was caused by that 1927 typhoon and the photo was taken shortly afterwards before repairs were initiated.