Reclamation Street, Yau Ma Tei, looking north, c.1967

cwyip911
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Reclamation Street, Yau Ma Tei, looking north, c.1967

Photo source: ETH Library Zurich, Image Archive / Com_LC0143-002-010 (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Original title: Hong Kong by day. Taken by Comet Photo AG (Zürich). Dating 1967-1971.

A busy day in the Reclamation Street Market. The old pre-war tenement building (No. 73-95 Reclamation Street) on the left where "Chiu Kee Lai Fun and Noodle Mill" (超記瀨粉麵廠) located was called the "Boat House" (船屋) by local residents. The nickname came from a narrow curved structure of the north block at the junction of Battery Street and Reclamation Street. The building was completely burnt out by a No. 4 alarm fire on 11 March 1971 and demolished in the mid-1970s. It was later rebuilt as Kansu Street Jade Hawker Bazaar (closed and demolished in late 2020 for the construction of Central Kowloon Bypass) and the Ferry Street Flyover.

The tenement building opposite to the "Boat House" on the right (No.106-136 Reclamation Street) was demolished and became the Yau Ma Tei Community Centre Playground at 1968. This photo was probably taken in 1967.

p.s. A vertical signboard in Red labelled "Pat Chun" (八珍醬園) at far can also be seen. The shop at No. 148 Reclamation Street is still existing today.

Date picture taken
1967 (year is approximate)
Shows place(s)
18 Chinese houses at K.I.L. 1286, Reclamation Street [1915-????]

Comments

Great photo, but I think it must be before 1967. The construction of the polyclinic was started before 1967 and in that case we would see it at the end of the block on the left. But instead the previous corner building is still intact. Compare with this image from a film (Asia-Pol Secret Service) released in June 1967 which shows the construction site on the right.

Reclamation Street, by philk

The construction site in the movie scene occupying part of the Battery Street was set up at some time between 1964 and 1967 after the former New Tai Yat Theatre was closed. That building was a temporary structure, maybe a site office or a warehouse. It was probably demolished for the construction of the open air car park of the polyclinic before it was ready for service on March 29, 1967 (the opening day was announced on a Medical and Health Department notice posted on p.19 of SCMP the previous day). The car park can be seen at the bottom right of a linked photo of 1968 I have mentioned above.

That site was also shown in photo I posted, at where the lonely bamboo scaffolding and hoarding beneath it located (behind the umbrellas in the centre of the photo). The photo could be taken after the temporary structure had been demolished. Consider the dressing of people, it was likely taken in the winter of 1966-67. Of course, it could also be taken in a much earlier time before the temporary building was completed, but less likely according to the dating of the original source.

The building with round corner at a distance behind the bamboo scaffolding should be No. 137 Reclamation Street at the junction of Public Square Street. It existed until about 1984.

Oh I see, many thanks for the explanation. Yes, I can see that #137 remained intact for quite some time afterwards. The 1985 map (hkmaps.hk) shows C.I.P June 1985.