International Funeral Parlour 萬國殯儀館 - original location [1951-1963]

Submitted by philk on Thu, 09/10/2020 - 21:09
Current condition
Demolished / No longer exists
Date completed
(Day & Month are approximate.)
Date closed / demolished
(Day & Month are approximate.)

The International Funeral Parlour (萬國殯儀館) in Hung Hom was originally located on the corner of Lockhart Road and Fenwick Street. Appears to have been demolished in the early 1960s. It was replaced by the East Town Theatre.

I've added an opening year of 1951 thanks to Jimmy's comment below, and have set a tentative demolition year as 1963 because the East Town Theatre that replaced it opened in early 1964. 

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Photos that show this Place

1953 Lockhart Road
1953
International Funeral Parlour 萬國殯儀館
1956
Fenwick Street/Lockhart Road Junction
1956
See more photos of this place

Comments

Hi Phil,

There is an Wiki entry (in Chinese) for it.  The Wanchai venue was opened back in 11th Feb 1951.  Just a single floor building with a basement (as the morgue).  The Quarry Bay site (#16 Hoi Tai Street) started construction in 1960 and was inaugurated on 1st July 1962.

The Wanchai site was then reconstructed or converted  to the Tung Shing Theatre (rumoured to have ghosts sitting next to audience watching movies sometimes) and inaugurated on 2nd Sep 1964.  Owing to the haunted rumour and business was not good, it folded and started demolition in February 1974.  The site was replaced by East Town Building (a commercial building) in 1976, which inherited the hauted stories.

Tung Wah Group of Hospitals website did not mention the Wanchai history of this.

T

It was revealed that a British jockey (Neel J S C) died on 21st January 1961 after falling off a horse in a race in Happy Valley, aged 41. His funeral service was held at the International Funeral Parlour in Wanchai. If anyone had photos of the funeral service, then it would be possible to see more of the Parlour and its surrounding areas.

I have discovered another photo of the International Funeral Parlour on the web:
https://www.picuki.com/media/1893938458637069701

On this web page, you will be able to see a photo of the International Funeral Parlour in Wanchai back in 1953 where a funeral service was held for a well-known left-wing leader, Mr. Chan Man Hon (transliterated name), who was then the chairman of The Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions. Right behind the hearse were most probably his family members who were accompanied by a number of funeral workers (or perhaps a marching band?) in white hats on both sides. The photo was extracted from the book "The Story of Hong Kong Workers" (香港工人的故事).

I have also found another web page that might be of interest to the readers of Gwulo-dot-com:
http://www.weshare.hk/madamebianca/articles/757668

Although the text is in Chinese, there are several very interesting old photos related to funeral matters, including an announcement in the newspaper of the opening of International Funeral Parlour in 1951. The address stated in the announcement was No. 41-51 Lockhart Road (in Wanchai) and the telephone number was 36556. The price of "an economical set menu" was HK$300.