The original Gough Street steps had existed a long time ago. It was in the Gazette as early as 1857. [1]
I try to position it as above based on following details. Your kind suggestions to fine tune its location are welcome.
[location clue 1]
In Directory and Chronicle of 1864, Circular Pathway is described as Gough Street steps to Ladder Street.
The relative positions of Gough Street and Circular Pathway (弓弦巷) should be rather invariant over the years. So it helps to indicate whereabout the staircase.
[location clue 2]
As the 1901 map [2], the steps are with a wide entry area on the Queen's Road Central level and have multiple flights in its upper part.
As a reasonable spatial guess, Gough Street steps should be close to end of current Gough Street, for descent to Queen's Road Central.
[other supports]
Two other references are related to water supply, in 1859 and c.1905 the Rider Main System, when defining 'District No. 3' boundary.
Due to the massive clearing and reinforcement works when Hollywood Terrace was built (today's at QRC), original location or steps should have not any traces left.
Old Hong Kong (vol. 4) may be one of the early written accounts which mentioned Gough Street steps directly with its colloquial name in Chinese. Namely, 百步梯.
Under the article 'Hong Kong Chinese Names', it mentions
Then end of Gough Street is more poetically termed the Hundred Steps Ladder [4] ... (c. 1935)
A photo near 244-254 QRC c.1960-70s is here. We could see how the hillside of the site looks like, before Hollywood Terrace.
[hotels near the steps]
As carefully studied by reader Jill before (here), it should be a location near which some hotels resided, with an affinity. Actually, there was also a stand for public jinrichshas from the 1890s; the next few stands are Man On Insurance Office (2 QRW), Queen's Street and Ko Shing Theatre, as Gazette.
period focused : c. 1870-1880s (mainly based on the Directories)
| location> | next to Gough Street steps | ----+----+----+----> |
| 1870s |
198-200 Divers' Arms (1871) [5] Star Tavern (1875-77) |
292 National Tavern (1870-1879) |
| 1880s | 200A National Hotel (1880-82) [*] 222-224 ditto (1883-86) |
|
| 1900s | 242-244 Central Hotel [6] (1898, 1901-1910) |
(*) by comparison, some renumbering seemed to happen in 1882-1883;
another tavern nearby called Liverpool Arms indirectly supports this :
it was at #182 in 1882, but at #204 in 1883-84, which could be seen in the rate book photo by Jill. (link)
notes
1. resource a; 'Gough Street steps' is a reference to define boundary of sub-district No. 2 'Sheong Wan' (Sheung Wan) in the 1850s
2. Plan of Victoria 1901, Sheet 10
3. resource a; also Hongkong Telegraph, 1905-5-13
4. a more suitable translation is staircase, instead of 'Ladder'
5. It was quite famous due to some court cases, re seamen. In one of them, it says :
... the seaman made a bolt into the "Divers Arms". Complainant went
into the public house after him, when the defendant told him no man had gone in his house,
... and he could not search the house without a warrant. Consequently he
went out, and as he was doing so, the crowd shouted the man had jumped from the root of
the house on to the Gough Street steps.
Daily Press, 1872-4-6
6. '... Central Hotel which was situated at the corner of Gough Street Steps and Queen's Road' (c. 1910), as Old Hong Kong
resources
a. Gov't Gazette
b. Directory and Chronicle by Daily Press, various years e.g. 1864, 1870-80s
c. Old Hong Kong, by Colonial (c. 1935)
Comments
Gough Street fairly developed, mid 1840s
Jill, thank you for your ready help and sharing the rates book info extracted before, which enables me to try discovering more.
From the Hongkong Almanack 1848, a relevant description :
... beside detached portions of the Queen's Road, Gough Street is the only one having
a handsome range of houses on each side; in the other streets good houses
are comparatively few and far between... [1]
Meanwhile, newspaper advertisments about houses to let on Gough Street started 1845 [2], supporting this similarly.
a three story veranda house at the West end of Gough Street ..
two convenience houses, with verandahs ..
Thanks to David's 1845 Map of Hong Kong posted over a decade ago, we actually see steps drawn at the end of Gough Street pictorally [3]. Possibly in some preliminary form.
We have good reasons to acknowledge initial 'Gough Street steps' have existed c.1845, even though mention about its construction may not be found in documents at hand.
What a treasure trove of crucial information and references gwulo is, we may find. If only we know and realise potential usage more, years earlier !
sources
1. Hongkong Almanack and Directory 1848; five foreign residents are named on Gough Street by 1848, apart from business entities recorded
2. Friend of China, 1845 (.. and Hongkong Gazette , namely)
3. Plan of Victoria 1845, copied from WO 78/479
Rate Book records
Delighted to hear that my labours on the Rate Books have been useful to someone other than myself. That prompts me to check what streets and dates I have and maybe upload them as a potential resource for others. They all have some link to my family, but there may well be entries on the same pages that turn out to be useful to someone else.