Hong Kong Shop Houses

Is it my imagination, or do an unusually large number of the remaining shop houses hold pawn shops? And if yes, does anyone know why?

Hi there,

My observation is that these old Pawn Shops usually own the whole block, which means the owner must have been quite wealthy.  These Pawn Shop blocks also act a a stronghold for storing valuable items.  But hey, if one doesn't have quite a lot of cash on hand, or a continuous flow of cash on his or her disposal, how could one start a Pawn Shop business afterall?

Best Regards,

T

Hi there,

I have already marked a few of those on the map two days ago.  All are welcomed to add comments and/or photos.

Best Regards,

T

PhilK & T, another idea for you. Is it worth agreeing on tags to show if it's a complete building, or just some evidence like an old pillar? eg use tags

shop house

or

shop house pillar

Then I can make a new page for you that lists all the complete shop houses, ie a table list, instead of the current view that shows them on a map.  It will help you track progress towards finding the 73 that the government know of.  (And I won't be very surprised if you find there are more than 73!)

MrB

Here you go, maps of all the Places tagged:

• shop house
• shop house pillar

Or lists of their names if you'd rather see a text version:

• shop house
• shop house pillar

MrB

Reader IDJ has sent in this photo:

He writes:

I took this in the late 1960s from the Rumsey Street car park. The road is Connaught Road Central and the Wing On department store was out of shot to the left. On the roof levels of these buildings can be seen the squatter huts and illegal extensions that were common on top of most buildings of this type in that period. A transition can be seen in the buildings in the image whereby the deep set first floor balconies either still remain areas for hanging out washing/sitting out and others glassed in for more living or working spaces. Some have started to have air conditioners fitted. Many were used as small factories.

When they were common these overhung buildings were useful when it rained, but were slow for pedestrians to negotiate as the pillars were obstructions as were the inevitable goods cascading onto the pavements from the shop fronts. But they were much slower times all round though.

I’ve always been wary of these buildings where the pavement pillars have been removed as I don’t suppose the owners or residents have bothered to have structural surveys done to determine whether the unsupported overhung floors remain structurally safe. There have been several collapses of overhead canopies onto pavements over the years.

My late mother-in-laws flat in an old block in the back streets of Causeway Bay has been completely revamped in recent years to become a shop with large areas of the external walls knock out to make picture windows for display purposes despite being on the first floor.

Great photo! The buildings are showing their age - none of the floors seem horizontal, nor the pillars vertical.

There's a marker in Tsuen Wan on the map, but nothing further north than that. Did any of the towns in the NT have any - do any still remain?

I was thinking of Yuen Long in particular. It was a market town before the war, so would likely have had some.

MrB

PS Found this post giving more history about shophouses, especially in Singapore & Malaysia.

In yesterday's talk, Carrie Lam gave preservation of shophouses as an example of preserving heritage. I found a couple of mentions on the government website:

• March 31 2008: 48 shophouses to be preserved, with details of how they will be handled according to their grading.
• September 19 2008: Details of a group of 20 shophouses to be preserved, one set on Shanghai Street, and one set on Prince Edward Road West.

Hi there,

I spotted a few more in the past few months somewhere between Shamshuipo and Mongkok.  I will try to post their photos soon.   Pity, those two on Argyle Street are already gone.

Best Regards,

T

Phil, I'm not sure if they have a list or not. Probably the Commissioner for Heritage's Office would be the place to ask.

Here are the shop houses we've found so far. At this point there are 107 listed, but some of them are just pillars or walls, not full shop houses.

There were quite a few old shophouses in Yuen Long the last time I was there, right along the main street, as it's a long-established market town.

Hi there,

In the New Territories, there are still many older houses, such as those walled villages, which are usually hundreds of year old.

Best Regards,

T

Last week I ended up in Yuen Long after a hike, and had a chance to check out Pete's recommendation.

I found a couple of groups along Casle Peak Road (the main road that the LRT runs along). This group on the North side:

and this on the South:

One thing a bit different is that they only extend out over half the pavement, unlike the shop houses in Kowloon or HK Island that usually cover the whole pavement.

Any ideas what caused the difference? Were pavements in the New Territories narrower?

The area to the North of Castle Peak Road is the older side, and there are some other relatively old buildings there, like these along Sau Fu Street:

I didn't spot any more in the shop house style, but there were several more  that were old enough to have chimneys. Worth a longer wander around on a cooler day!

Hi there,

I guess pavements were likely narrower in the New Territories back then.  The existing pavement seen in the photos might be extended slightly more than two decades, when the light rail was built.

Best Regards,

T

T, I thought some more, and the explanation seems a bit odd, given the width of the roadway.

Today it is wide enough for a wider pavement, road traffic, and the platforms and rails of the LRT. If these shophouses were built in the 1930s-50s, I wonder why the road was made so wide then? There wouldn't have been much traffic along it in those days. Then given a wide road with little traffic, it would have made sense to have wide pavements.

I'll check with a friend whose family is from Yuen Long. Maybe they can remember.

Hi there,

I could not recall anything from before the Light Rail system was built.  But Castle Peak Road run along the middle, cuttong the new and old town of Yuen Long was a fact.

However I have a theory.  It might have been more or less having the same system as the Gloucester Road in Wanchai.  The original Gloucester used to run along the water front and is now being devided by a fence between the now Gloucester mains........

My 2 cents,

T

Hi there,

I bumped into two sets of then and now photos of Yuen Long Main Road (Castle Peak Road Yuen Long Section) and I guess the theory I brought up last time is flawed.

The two older photos clearly showed part of the pavements were indeed quite wide.

Best Regards,

T

That's great news. And China Daily too - any autograph requests from our Golden Week visitors yet?!

Cheers, David