Corner of Amoy Street & Queen's Road East [????- ]

Submitted by tngan on
Current condition
In use

These three had been marked as Government Property and I thought had been demolished together with the Lee Tung Street/Chun Yuen Street buildings.  Obviously one of the shops is still being used by some charity or local group selling used items and/or organic vegetables.  There is a guard post in one of the blocks.

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Photos that show this Place

Wan Chai shops
2005
HK nos 186 188 190 queen's road east
2010
HK Wan Chai 186-190 Queen's Road East 2011
2011
See more photos of this place

Comments

This government report has some good background information and old maps of this area, and includes the text:

The Urban Renewal Authority (URA) will redevelop the site of Lee Tung Street and McGregor Street for a comprehensive commercial and residential development with GIC facilities and public open space. Shophouses at 186-190 Queen’s Road East (Grade II) will be conserved for adaptive re-use. The Town Planning Board (TPB) at its meeting on 22 May 2007 approved the Master Layout Plan submitted by URA with conditions including the submission of a conservation plan for the shophouses to be preserved within the site to the satisfaction of the Director of Leisure and Cultural Services or of the TPB.

So hopefully these will be preserved.

MrB

The Urban Renewal Authority reports (2007):

Project Status
The 3 buildings have been preserved for wedding-related adaptive reuse as part of the URA’s Redevelopment Project at Lee Tung Street (H15). Through coordination with the tenant, an exhibition area on wedding tradition has been set up on 3/F of the premises.

Historical linkage
The three bays of verandah type tenement buildings form a continuous façade verandah facing Queen's Road East.
The buildings lie on land reclaimed before 1887.
The buildings were identified by Antiquities and Monuments Office (AMO) as Grade III Historical Buildings.

Architectural attributes
The 3 pre-war residential blocks are unique Guangzhou-styled "Tong Lau", that were occupied exclusively by Chinese and predominantly seen all over southern Chinese cities and towns in the nineteen centuries.
The shophouse's existence was a culmination of a series of historic forces from economic development of Hong Kong, Second World War as well as the influx of Chinese migrants to Hong Kong.
The shophouses were a mixture of Chinese and Western architectural features. They were built in contiguous blocks in elongated layout and characterised by their narrow frontage. The shophouses have 4 storeys with verandahs facing Queen's Road East.
Every unit is about 450 - 700 square feet with high ceiling and French windows to the verandahs. Light wells are located between the living space and the kitchen at the back.
The shophouses did not have toilet provisions. The "nightsoil" from the pail latrine was collected by government scavengers at night.
Ground floor was devoted to family business whereas upper levels were for residential purpose.

The buildings have now been revitalized and house a tearoom of the Kee Wah Bakery.

Additional information:

Probably built in the mid-1930s. 

The buildings were accorded a Grade II status in 2000.