European House #24, Cheung Chau [????- ]

Submitted by Admin on
Current condition
Unknown

From A-brief-history-of-MIC.pdf:

On the 26 Nov 1926 the bungalow, No 24 Chung Chau, was sold by Randall Vickers and Mabel R Vickers to the Missionary Society in ‘natural love and affection’. Now known as Wesley Lodge, and it is part of the Methodist Church, Hong Kong.

http://www.hk-mic.org/120th-anniversary-booklet-download/

Photos that show this Place

1919 Government Map of Cheung Chau
1919
1924.1 crop, View from House #20
1924
1924 crop HKMaps Cheung Chau Assembly Hall?
1924
See more photos of this place

Comments

The outline of the building on the modern map looks very similar to the outline on the 1930s map. Compare

https://gwulo.com/node/20796?a=1#19/22.20272/114.03166/Map_by_ESRI-Mark…

and

https://gwulo.com/node/20796?a=2#19/22.20272/114.03166/Map_by_ESRI-1938…

Also the satellite view shows what looks to be the shadows of chimneys on a flat roof, which matches the view in the old photos.

If true, is this the last of the pre-war European houses still standing?

Our family lived in House 24 (white building near center of photo) during the years 1949-1950. According to my dad's journal, the house was rented from the Wesleyan Mission there in Hong Kong. I can truthfully state that my year in this house was one of the best in my life (I'm 83 YOA now).

Our family traveled to Hong Kong in 1988 and we made a visit to #24. At that time it was being rented by the US Navy as a R & R home for visiting sailors. The sailor in charge gave us a tour of the building and I found that it hadn't changed much since the days we lived in it.

I have been back to Cheung Chau a number of times since then and found that the house has been completely remodeled and is currently a retreat site for the Methodist Church.

Scott

"The alterations to Houses No. 18 and 24 are almost completed, while extensive repairs have also been done to Nos. 27 and 27A." China Mail 27 March 1933 refers

[Updated 20/May/2026]

Jenny Salsbury

My grandparents (missionaries Rev AH Bray and his wife Muriel) owned bungalow No. 24 on Cheung Chau.
A regular family summer holiday! It was donated to the Methodist church when my parents left in 2005.
 
Rev Bray served with the Methodist Missionary Society from 1914 to 1940.  After the war, he served as the Chairman of the Chinese Hong Kong District from 1949 until 1952.  He passed the house to his son Denis Bray, who owned it to 2005.  It seems the Brays owned House 24 for most of its life, which makes it hard to reconcile with the info given above.

In the 1938 list of house owners on Cheung Chau, the owner of House 24 is given as Mr M R Vickers.

In the list of attendees at the opening of the Cheung Chau Assembly Hall in 1924, we have a Dr B R Vickers.  Is this Randall Vickers of post #1?

Very likely Randall Vickers is Dr. B. R. Vickers as he signs off his name as B. Randall Vickers. Seen in Page 582 of the China Medical Journal: https://mednexus.org/doi/pdf/10.3760/cma.j.issn.0366-6999.1920.05.176

In 1916, B. R. Vickers, M. B., B. S. Lond, and his wife were attached to the Wesleyan Missionary Society in Wuchow, Kwangsi. Vickers had previously worked at the Fatshan Hospital, Canton.