Broadwood Road came into being in 1915. Like the other houses built along Broadwood Road at this time, either bungalows or two-storey, #8 was an elegant two-storey colonial-style house. There was a zig-zag path that led down to Broadwood Road half way down the picture where the shadow is. Because it was built on a ridge it had fine views to the front and rear of the house (Happy Valley and So Kon Po Valley). Looking at the full picture from the Hedda Morrison original will give an idea of the views.
With thanks to Harvard University, Harvard College Library Harvard-Yenching Library, W364602_1.
Date picture taken
1946
Shows place(s)
Comments
8 Broadwood Road
It was interesting to see the above photo of the house at the same address where my grandparents, Amaro John and Maria Rita Reed lived with their seven sons before the war. Patrick Murray and his wife Lucretia, nee Reed, owned #7, "Murrivillo". Amaro and Lucretia's half sister, Margaret Anne Bond, was listed as the owner of #8, "Beaumont". The house in the above photo looks different from the photos I've posted, as per the links below. The house had a rounded balcony on the second floor that is not evident in this photo.
https://gwulo.com/media/44350, https://gwulo.com/media/44351, https://gwulo.com/media/41537
I had also posted a photo of the Reed family taken on the front lawn of the house at #8 in 1918. https://gwulo.com/media/41421
I am wondering if the above photo was actually taken in 1946. I was told that the Reed family home was looted and stripped during the war. When the war ended, my parents and I, my grandmother, Arthur Reed's widow Marie and daughter Mary returned to Hong Kong from Macau and resided at 244 Nathan Road. I also read a newspaper article that was posted on this website, reporting that a boulder had fallen down onto the house at #7, leading to its demolition. I can't recall the date of that article and when it was posted.
I appreciated seeing the photo that Aldi posted on 12/30 of the houses on Broadwood Road overlooking the racecourse. He identified the houses from #9 to #17. This gave me a good idea of approximately where houses #7 and #8 were located.
Margaret Annie Bond owner of no. 8
8 Broadwood Road, known as "Beaumont", was originally owned by Miss Margaret Annie Bond, great-aunt of Gwulo contributor, angie-r. See entry for Margaret Anne Bond at https://gwulo.com/node/39888 and the following correspondence - also entries for Margaret Bond's nephews, the Reeds, their role in the Battle for Hong Kong and their fates thereafter.
Thank you
Thank you angie-r for all that info! The pic is 1946-47. It has to be then as the vegetation (and the houses!) were stripped for firewood during the war.
This photo of #8 seems to give the most help in identifying the house.
Top left pic - is consistent with Hedda's pic of #8 with the curved balcony of #9 beyond.
Top right pic - is consistent with Hedda's pic of #8.
Centre pic - is a puzzle. It doesn't fit Hedda's pic. It seems to have a shoreline in the distance and a mountain peak. Was the rounded balcony at the back of the house and are we looking towards Kowloon? Perhaps Team Gwulo can help?
8 Broadwood Road
Aldi, thanks for your comments about the house and for clarifying that the house with the curved balcony in the above photo was actually house #9. When I initially saw the collage of photos, It looked like the balcony was part of the #8 house. In retrospect, seeing the actual photo above of the entire house, that balcony did not fit the colonial style of the house. The photo in the collage was most likely included to show the view on that side of the house. Given the proximity of the two houses, they might have shared the same path leading up from the road. I recall my mother mentioning the sedan chairs taken to reach the house from Broadwood Road. This photo taken in 1946 showed the house, or shell of the house, was still standing after the war and not in total ruins. It must have been demolished soon after.
Regarding the center photo of my parents, I wonder if that was taken on the roof of the house.
In the family photo taken on the front lawn of the house, I wonder if the house in the background at the far right could be #9? There was some question as to whether this family photo was taken at the Murray house at #7, or at #8 as I assumed. Carl Smith's card indicated that Patrick Murray died in 1927 at his house at 209 Wanchai Road. It seems he rented out both houses at #7 and #8 Broadwood Road for a few years to expats at Asiatic Petroleum where he worked. I don't know when my father and his family moved from their house at 167 Wanchai Road to 8 Broadwood Road. In 1911, the Wanchai houses were bequeathed to Amaro John Reed, Lucretia (Reed) Murray, and Margaret Bond when their mother Anna Maria Dias died. Anna Maria married Robert Reed in 1861. She married Charles Bond in 1875, two years after Robert Reed died. Her parents, Rodrigues and Faustina Rosario, owned five properties in Wanchai. Anna Maria lived at 162 Wanchai Road, which was later bequeathed to Margaret Bond.
Reed Family Photo
Correction! Re the 1918 family photo taken on the lawn of the house, I inadvertently mentioned the house in the background as being at the far right instead of the upper left of the photo!