I find these building fascinating - harking back to an era that is sadly no more (as per usual with somewhere as 'dynamic' as HK). I get quite excited whenever I see one, sometimes on main thoroughfares, sometimes tucked away in the maze of streets that litter the territory. Perhaps it is their relative scarcity adds to their allure? Either way I have decided to try and document as many of them as possible and, at the inspired suggestion of David, to do this on Gwulo.
I have a few in mind that I have already added as places, and a few more I intend to revisit over the coming weeks (e.g The Pawn and some more on De Voeux Rd) so I can pinpoint their exact location and document them here.
However, I am not really as familiar with HK Island as I know many of you are. So, please feel free to comment with some suggestions or, even better, add them as places yourself so we can get a consolidated map in order. If you do add one, please attach a shop house tag.
EDIT: According to a local news report (19/09/2008), regarding the renovation of the row of shop houses (described as 1930's pre-war housing) on Prince Edward Rd West, there are only 73 examples of Shop Houses still standing in HK. So let's see if we can get photos of all of them.
keep 'em coming
T, great stuff. I will make an effort to gets some photos over the next couple of weeks.
Shop houses - pawn shops
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?
Old Pawn Shops
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
Pawn shops
I suspect that the pawn shops are just well established. It wouldn't surprise me to find that they have been in the same location for a long time (i.e. since shophouses were a bit more common) and as a result have managed to help protect the buildings from redevelopment.
More locations
I had a message from Barrie as follows:
I recommended to Barrie that he come to this site and start helping us documenting, especially with decent photos. Let's hope he has a look in and helps us out.
In the meantime perhaps T can clear up if these (mentioned above) have already been tagged.
Cheers
Phil
Shop Houses near Nam Cheong Street
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
Shop Houses
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
a very good idea indeed.
I'll go back and complete my, err, three entries. T might have his work a bit more cut out for him :).
Cheers
Phil
Lists of Shop Houses
Here you go, maps of all the Places tagged:
Or lists of their names if you'd rather see a text version:
MrB
Shop Houses on Connaught Rd C. in the 1960s
Reader IDJ has sent in this photo:
He writes:
Great photo! The buildings are showing their age - none of the floors seem horizontal, nor the pillars vertical.
Any shop houses in the New Territories?
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.
Tai Po in the 50's
My old Tai Po photo shows them, and there are afew older low-rise buildings could have been in the past, but as for pillar'd front facades - I haven't found any in Tai Po (yet).
I don't know Yuen Long well enough but I guess there is as much chance there as anywhere else. Especially as Yuen Long and surrounds hasn't modernised quite as quickly as Tai Po. It wouldn't sdurpise me if there were some in Fanling or Sheung Shui, both have some fairly old streets.
Great link BTW.
Preserving Hong Kong's shophouses
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:
Saving the shophouse
This is good news, and they are going to save many more than I expected.
However, they mention 56 'others' of no historical/preservational value. This means they have identified 104 properties altogether? Is there a document that contains all their locations?
Did Thomas manage to get all of these in the Batgung shophouse hunt?
Would be interesting to know of any we missed.
Re: Saving the shophouses
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
List of shop houses
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.
Re: Shophouses
the recent assessment of 1444 old buildings by the heritage experts for the Antiquities Board has information/grading on all the old shophouses, including some to be demolished.
http://www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/Museum/Monument/en/aab.php
clicking on the brief assessments on grade 1,2 and 3 buildings opens up detailed descriptions and history of each building. Searching for tong lau or shop house will limit scrolling through 500 buildings at a time
Yuen Long
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.
Re: Yuen Long
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
Yuen Long Shophouses
Pete
Any recent pictures and do you know the exact locations? If you do then they can be added as a 'place' and given the 'Shop House' tag to make them appear on the google map above.
Phil
Yuen Long shop houses
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!
Re: Narrower pavements
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
Narrower pavements?
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.
Re: Narrower pagements?
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
Re: Narrower pavements?
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
Shophouse article in China Daily
Readers may be interested to see an article by Christopher Dewolf in today's 'China Daily' that Thomas and myself were interviewed for.
Chris has put it up on his Urban Photo blog:
http://www.urbanphoto.net/blog/2010/10/05/hong-kongs-disappearing-shoph…
The Urban Photo blog is no longer available, but an archived version of the article is here:
https://web.archive.org/web/20101012085252/http://www.urbanphoto.net/bl…
You're famous!
That's great news. And China Daily too - any autograph requests from our Golden Week visitors yet?!
Cheers, David