Aerial view of Happy Valley

Sun, 05/17/2015 - 12:23

Part of a collection of pictures made by Jim Watkins (deceased) of Henley In Arden, England while on military service in Hong Kong probably1947.

Date picture taken
30 Jun 1947
Author(s)

Comments

The building on the corner of Queen's Road was bombed during the war, you can see the right end is damaged in comparison with this pre-war view:

Hong Kong, hotel in front of hills

Right from that is the Sikh temple. It was also damaged by bombing. though it looks to have been rebuilt by the time this photo was taken.

Right again we can see part of a square building below Stubbs road. Possibly the elusive Lane Crawford Bakery? (http://gwulo.com/node/13908)

Hi there,

Some observations:

  1. I believe Shiu Fai Terrace was shown by the right hand side in the middle of the photo .  Much was barrent with only a few big houses were standing.  I believe one of those (probably the smaller one) on the right hand side survived but in ruin back in the mid 1970's.  I remember 'traspassing' in it with classmates after school a few times back then;
  2. Another cluster of houses on a spur further up Stubbs Road should be Tung Shan Terrace.
  3. Bowen Road is visible in the photo;
  4. The Sikh temple seemed to be visible, but uncertain if it been fully rebuilt yet;
  5. The Hindu Temple seemed to be visible as well, with a foot path behind it going up the slop towards Stubbs Road;

T

More closer to TST, there are a group of three buildings which, by pro-war time, was the Lingnan Primary & Middle School. During the 1960s, three more buildings were being added to expand the school capacity as there was plan preparing to form an university by its oversea directors.

Tung

Here's a comparison of the area before (upper) and after (lower) the war:

1940s buildings near Sikh temple

Before the war the main building had five stairwells along Gap Road, numbered 1-5 in the upper, c.1940 photo.

After the war the right stairwell, number 5, is gone and replaced by a smaller structure. I guess that the bomb that landed in this area severely damaged the western end of that building (5), the Gap Road School (6) and the 2nd-generation Sikh Temple (7), which led to them all having been demolished by the time the lower, c. 1947 photo was taken.

The photo was taken in 1947.  Lingnan primary was there already before the war. And middle school  was added after the war. The school should be on Stubbs road which is the first road along the hillside above the Happy Valley race course. Further uphill is the Bowen Road. As tung lin mentioned there were three buildings at that time. One on Stubbs road. Two behind it further uphill.  There is a whole stretch of empty hillside on the right until some buildings appear at Siu Fai terrace near the edge of the picture. 

 

I would like to know if there are more photos of the Sikh Temples and the Sikh police from 1900 onwards