This image came from Flickr, see https://www.flickr.com/photos/hoting2000/16245951808/
Update 2026-07-29
After an intensive discussion (thanks to all participants), the final location of the godowns could be identified. They are a bit more to the west than originally thought. The godowns are at Des Voeux Road West, to the west of Hill Road. Further information here: Godowns on M.L. 182 - 177 (Shek Tong Tsui) [????-????].
The damages were likely caused be the 1937 typhoon.
I found this photo already about 4 years ago. I tried several times to find the location, but I was never sure where exactly it would be, and gave up.
Here is another try. The photo shows a godown of the China Provident Loan & Mortgage Co Ltd. We see a two-gabled building with a small tower in the centre which is damaged. The location should be Sai Ying Pun or Shek Tong Tsui. This is supported by the mountain in the back which should be High West.
Pre-war location
The Industrial History of Hong Kong Group gives some information about the company. China Provident Loan & Mortgage Co Ltd. was founded in 1898 as one of the many firms of Shewan Tomes & Co. A few years after the founding, the business changed from the financing of houses to the operation of godowns. The website reports that their godown was at 263 Des Voeux Road West.
A look into the Index of the streets, house numbers and lots of the city of Victoria… from 1938 gives an entry at 257-271 (old numbering) Des Voeux Road West with the reference to 171-175 Connaught Road West (M.L. 432 and 433).
The name given there is C.P.L. and M. Co.’s Godown No. 1, No. 1a and No.2. The marine lots given in the index can partly be found in the 1901 map (and still in the 1924 map) on Gwulo. ML 198 is there, but ML 432 and ML 433 are not. Instead of these, ML 204 and ML 205 appear – likely a renumbering was made after 1924.
We have a place there already on Gwulo: Godowns on Marine Lots 198, 204 and 205 [c.1903-c.1974].
A photo from 1906 shows the Yuen Yuen godown, then one of China Navigation followed by likely the China Provident Loan & Mortgage Co godown.
The main difference between this and the original photo is the fact that we here see two-storey buildings instead of thre-storey ones there.
The AI of Google lens attributes the original photo to 1941 and gives the Japanese attack as the cause for the damage. There is some probability for this.
Post-war location
On Gwulo, we have a map from 1955.
It shows Yuen Yuen Godown at 168 Connaught Road West, and China Provident Loan & Mortgage Co Godowns from 169 to 180 Connaught Road West.
We also have photos from the 1960s.
We see two-storey buildings again, likely rebuilt godowns after the war. There is a gap between the houses at the waterfront left of the junk – this should be Water Street. Going right we see an almost flat building; this should be Yuen Yuen Godown. The next buildings all belong to the China Provident Loan & Mortgage Co. Next is a flat-roof building with a tower in its centre. Then we see four gabled houses. I think the gabled building shown in the original photo is in the centre of the four.
Comments are welcome, especially regarding the date of the photo.
Comments
Re: Main Photo
I have seen the main photo before. I think the damage to the building was related to the great typhoon of 1937.
Main Photo
Klaus - the hill in the background doesn't look like High West to me. I thought it could be Lung Fu Shan but I just can't make the angles add up right now. If the original image is post-37, I would also expect to see Ka On Street somewhere on the right (it's the street on the left in your 1955 map image above), but the shorter godown seems to be occupying part of the space where I would expect to see it. Do you know if they had any other sites?
Edit: there appears to be a house on the hill in the background (behind the central tower section of the godown) that might shed some light on this. If it's Lung Fu Shan then perhaps the angle may be better from the other China Provident site where Kwan Yick Phase 1 stands next to Hill Road?
Re: location
Hi moddsey and Phil. Thank you for your comments.
Google Lens also offered the 1937 rainstorm as cause for the damage.
I still find it difficult to pin down the exact location. We have a couple of pre-war photos of Sai Ying Pun and Shek Tong Tsui. In all photos, we see two-storey godowns, not three-storey ones. I also thought of the post-war location where Kwan Yick Phase
1[sorry, I meant Phase 3] stands today. This area should be visible in this 1930s photo:The godowns west of Western Street should be where Kwan Yick Phase 1 building stand today. There is no sign of the buildings shown in the original photo.
The Industrial History of Hong Kong Group reports that the godown was at 263 Des Voeux Road West, at least in 1913 when a fire broke out. And there was one post-war. That's why I was quite confident.
The caption on Flickr says "1930s Kennedy town waterfront". Possibly the location is further west than I thought. In the 1945 map on Gwulo, there is a text off Connaught Road West, west of Hill Road saying: China Loan & Mortgage Co. (Destroyed). Could that be the location? Or still further west?
Addendum: Phil mentioned the building uphill behind the godown's tower. I tried to find it, and I'm quite confident that this is the Overseer’s Quarters, Elliot Filter Beds [1925- ]. Compare this photo from 1935:
The overseers building is shown under a very similar angle, also the shape of the hill. This strongly supports the location of the godown on Connaught Road West near the junction with Hill Road, likely more west as mentioned above.
Overseer's Quarters
Hi Klaus, nice find, I think that is the Overseer's Quarters, which would definitely put the original photo slightly further west, as you said.
If you look at Kwan Yick Phase 1 area on the 1934 aerial map on hkmaps.hk, you can see from Hill Road moving west there are several blocks. The fourth one along has a double gable and what could be a central, thinner raised area that could correspond to the tower in the original image. Note that the next block along to the west is obviously smaller because it has a shadow cast over the roof from next door. The smaller building similarly looks like it also has a central section that is higher than the rest of the roof.
Phil
Edit: there is less clear imagery on the 1924.1 aerial images. But it basically puts the location of the godown in question to where the westernmost (#440?) block of Kwan Yick Phase 1 now stands.
Re: Godown Location
I think one is looking at the godowns on Des Voeux Road West, west of Hill Road.
Unfortunately, views of this section of Des Voeux Road West towards the junction with Queen's Road West are not plentiful. In the photo below, the window arrangement and appearance of the building on the extreme right appears to match the godown on the left in the main photo.
1920s View over western Hong Kong
David posted this photo 1920s View over western Hong Kong. Could you (David) please enhance the part of interest which would be west of the gas works.
Hill Road area
I think Moddsey's image of those buildings on the far right confirms that Kwan Yick phase 1 is where the godown was located. The 1945 aerial imagery on Gwulo shows the whole block (other than the building on the corner of Hill Road) has been completely removed. Here is the view (from a 1964 film) after it was redeveloped post-war.
Shek Tong Tsui collage 1920s/1930s
This is an attempt to reconstruct the pre-war situation in Shek Tong Tsui where Kwan Yick Pase 1 buildings stand today.
Upper part shows a (rotated) part of the 1922 map with the respective lot numbers. The building on the left at Hill Road is the Kam Ling Hotel. Bottom right shows the damaged China Provident godown, and bottom left the Kam Ling Hotel and a tiny bit of the godowns visible left in the China Provident photo.
This is only one possible reconstruction, but it reflects the discussion to date.