Praya Buildings 1885 and 1895

Tue, 11/08/2022 - 03:36

Another timeline for praya buildings, this time from c. 1885 and from 1895.

Top photo: 1887 Panorama of Victoria, Hong Kong

Bottom photo: Central praya C.1895

The 1887 panorama likely doesn't show the situation in this year, it's certainly one or two years older (see below). 

The 1895 (bottom) photo shows:

  1. 22, Des Voeux Road Central (P & O Building (3rd generation))
  2. 24, Des Voeux Road Central (Crosby's Store / Lane Crawford (1st location))
  3. 26, Des Voeux Road Central
  4. 28, Des Voeux Road Central
  5. 30-32, Des Voeux Road Central

Li Yun Street East

  1. 34-46 Des Voeux Road Central

Li Yun Street West

  1. 48-58,  Victoria Hotel

Pottinger Street

  1. 60 - 70 Des Voeux Road Central

Chinese Street (Man Yee Lane)

  1. 72-82 Des Voeux Road Central
  2.  Central Market (3rd gen.)

 

The c. 1885 (top) photo is different as some buildings have not been built yet which one sees ten years later.

First difference is an empty lot east of Crosby's Store / Lane Crawford (1st location). Here the P&O Building (3rd gen.) will open in 1887. We have

  1. empty lot
  2. 24, Des Voeux Road Central (Crosby's Store / Lane Crawford (1st location))
  3. 26, Des Voeux Road Central
  4. 28, Des Voeux Road Central
  5. 30-32, Des Voeux Road Central or a predecessor

Li Yun Street East

  1. unknown small buildings

Li Yun Street West

  1. 48-58,  Victoria Hotel

Pottinger Street

  1. 60 - 70 Des Voeux Road Central

Chinese Street (Man Yee Lane)

  1. unkown building
  2. There should be Central Market (2nd gen.), but which building?

 

Date picture taken
1890s
Author(s)

Comments

Yes, the  higher building at the right should be the P&O Building (2nd gen). Then the market should be immediately left of it, but the buildings in the engraving don't look like market buildings. (Though I haven't seen any photos of the 2nd gen. Central market yet to know what I should be looking for.)

Engravings weren't always 100% accurate, so I'd like to see the photo that the engraving was based on.

I called in to Wattis Fine Art last week to see their current exhibition. Jonathan showed me a photo of the seafront taken around the same time as the engraving was made, and the buildings to the east of the P&O building look the same as in the engraving. So maybe that earlier generation of the Central Market just didn't have access to the seafront?

Here is the original photo that the engraving was made from, missing part of the leftmost panel. The engraver seemingly added a few random junks under sail, however the position of many of the boats in both photo and engraving is identical. 

Panorama of the City from the Harbour
Panorama of the City from the Harbour, by Herostratus

The 2nd Generation market was a few rows of buildings surrounded by tenements on all sides - there is very little to see from the exterior unlike later market buildings. I have a few photos of the area that I will upload. 

Here is a photo of the 2nd Generation Central Market area from the peak taken circa 1875. It consists of 3 rows of what look like single storey buildings running perpendicular to the harbour with streets in between covered by awnings . The market is totally surrounded by tenement buildings 

Central Market 2nd Generation
Central Market 2nd Generation, by Herostratus

Here is a view of the Central Market entrance from Queens Road. On the right of the photo there are three 2 storey buildings with narrow passages in between leading to the market.

Queens Road Central looking west towards the Central Market
Queens Road Central looking west towards the Central Market, by Herostratus