1950s Fred Evans' photos

Mon, 09/22/2014 - 19:37
Date picture taken
1959

Comments

This is the car park that JJ Cowperthwaite refused to pay for out of Government funds, saying "If the private sector wants a car park, it can build one".

I'm pretty sure that car park was still there, unchanged, in the 1980's, by which time the cost of a days parking was considerably more than the cost of travelling into and out of Central by any other means.

 

I thought this picture showed the multi-storey car park behind City Hall. Reason being this photo of the building only shows a ramp leading down from the upper levels. The car park in front of the old star ferry building (which will be pulled down from what I understand) is a longer building and has another ramp that leads up at the opposite end.

Hi there,

Got to check out the stair case there.  I believe you were right about this.  The one next to the back stage of City Hall does not have a stair case next to the ramp.  The one in the west does.

Best Regards,

T

I think J is right that the carpark is the one behind the City Hall Low Block. If one counts the number of pillars supporting the ramp in Fred's photo, it matches the same number from today's Google street view.

1961 photo of the construction of City Hall.

1960s City Hall Construction

 

 

 

I'll stick with 1959 for now, as Fred's photo shows the car park in use, and he left Hong Kong permanently in 1959.

Klaus also found a mention the car park was in use in 1959 (https://gwulo.com/comment/56815#comment-56815), but that note also suggests the car park was closed at some point that year while piling work was underway. So maybe it had an unofficial opening in 1959, closed during the piling works, then had its formal opening in 1961?