Current condition
Demolished / No longer exists
From the Public Records Office:
1893 - From the Bay View Hotel, Application for an extention to the present lease.
1898 - Request permission by Mr. J. W. Osborne to sublet the Bay View Hotel
1903 Feb - Recommends the removal of the private reservoir behind the Bay View Hotel, or prohibition of the neighbouring Gardens
1903 - Oct - Re-occupation of the Bay View Hotel by the Police (From AG.Capt. Supt. of Police)
Various directories:
1892 - J. W. Osborne, proprietor
1894 - J. W. Osborne, proprietor
1902 - J. W. Osborne, proprietor
1904 - John Lacock, licensee
Photos that show this Place
1888
1894
1898
Comments
Police re-occupied the Hotel
Police re-occupied the Hotel in 1903.
Bay View Inn
HK Telegraph 8 April 1891
J. W. Osborne was granted a publican's licence for the premises known as Whitfield Police Station, but now re-christened as the Bay View Inn, at Causeway Bay.
Boundary of the City of
Boundary of the City of Victoria:
1, In the construction of this ordinance, the term City of Victoria means the City of Victoria bounded as follows :—
On the north by the harbour,
on the south by the Pokfulalm and Taitam conduits.
on the east by a straight line drawn from Whitfield Police Station to the mouth of the Taitam tunnel, and
on the west by Mount Davis.
J W Osborne
I've found a bit more about J W Osborne and made a page for him at:
http://gwulo.com/node/31688
Whitfield Police Station
7. Whitfield Police Station has been vacated by the police and is now let for the purposes of an inn.
From the Report of the Director of Public Works for 1891
1885
There is a brief mention of the Whitfield Police Station in the China Mail in August 1885. The sanitary conditions of the nearby village of Tai-hang was such that its partial destruction in a rain storm was viewed by the paper as a blessing in disguise!
“THE little village of Tai-hang, near the Whitfield Police Station, suffered considerably from the heavy rains of last night. The houses, or huts, which constitute the village are situated at the foot of a hill, a portion of which has been cut away for quarrying purposes. The rush of water down the hillside, carrying with it quantities of earth and debris, carried away several of the houses and filled up many others with earth and rubbish to a height of several feet. Some of the inhabitants of the wrecked houses have obtained shelter in neighbouring dwellings, while one woman, with her family, who had been rendered houseless, applied for assistance at the Police Station this morning and has been temporarily provided for. From a sanitary point of view the semi-destruction of the village can scarcely be regretted, as it was one of the filthiest in the Colony, and it will now probably get the benefit of a thorough cleansing.”
Source: The China Mail, page 2, 26th August 1885
“DEVELOPMENT OF THE CASUEWAY…
“DEVELOPMENT OF THE CASUEWAY BAY DISTRICT
Persons who take their walks along the Shaukiwan Road cannot have failed to notice the empty houses beyond Whitfield Police Station which have recently formed the subject of correspondence between the Government and the Sanitary Board. It appears to have been represented to the Government that the houses were unoccupied on account of the unhealthiness of the locality, and the matter was referred to the Sanitary Board for consideration. The Sanitary Superintendent was thereupon requested to make inquiries, and according to his report the alleged unhealthiness is a myth, and the true reason why the houses are unoccupied is that there is no employment in the locality. Whitfield Police Station has long been known as fever-stricken, and so serious had the illness amongst the police stationed there become that the Government was at length compelled to abandon it. This gave some colour to the representation that the houses in the neighbourhood were also unhealthy, but according to the Colonial Surgeon the unhealthiness of the Police Station was due to conditions found at that particular spot and which are not present in the houses in question. Mr. McCALLUM’S researches certainly show that there have not been many deaths in the neighbourhood, and his theory that the reason of the houses standing empty is that there is no employment for the people who might occupy them seems very reasonable. Mr. McCALLUM suggest that this cause would be removed if boats were allowed to use the harbour of refuge at Causeway Bay at all times instead of only in bad weather. The Sanitary Board have adopted this suggestion and forwarded it to the Government as a recommendation, but coupled with the condition that the boats should be required to leave the harbour of refuge every night. On sanitary grounds this is a very necessary condition, as otherwise boats would take up permanent positions there and the foreshore would soon become offensive by the deposit of garbage and would constitute a serious nuisance and danger to health. There can, however, be no sanitary objection to junks entering to load and discharge cargo. If the recommendation of the Sanitary Board is adopted it will be interesting to watch the experiment. Very possibly we may in the course of a few years see a busy suburb spring up in that locality.”
Source: Mail Supplement to the Hong Kong Daily Press, page 1, 19th March 1890