2_View to Lyemun from QEH 1964.07.04.jpg

Fri, 09/04/2020 - 03:32

I think it was my father who took this picture, and others, from the balcony of my mother's room at QEH on the day that my sister Susan was born (see https://gwulo.com/atom/37679). I'd like to know what the distinctive black and white building is to the right of the photo.

Date picture taken
4 Jul 1964
Author(s)

Comments

It looks residential. I don't know what it was but I know what it became: Wylie Court.

After some searching around, as well as looking at the maps at http://www.hkmaps.hk/mapviewer.html, I then looked at the Gwulo entries for Hung Hom and found the photo at this link https://gwulo.com/atom/23338, which takes you a bit closer than the one above and establishes that the view is across to the Cable and Wireless Station at Hung Hom. The same low buildings and masts are visible in both photos. The black and white building in the view from QEH may therefore have been something to do with C&W rather than an earlier iteration of Wylie Court. I think it may have been Wylie Road that I was remembering from my schooldays.

Would the black and white building be something to do with the military? The upper grassed area looks like what eventually became King's Park rugby pitch where I played in the late 70's/early 80s. Just out of the picture to the left would have been the British Military Hospital which was just over the road from QEH. The lower area to the right of the B/W building became the King's Park Hockey Stadium in the early 80's as I played hockey there too.

I took a photo from the Officers Married Quarters, Worcester Heights, just across the road in 1984 (also on the Gwulo website). Interesting to see the changes in the 20 year period in between.

That's great to know. The foreshortening seems to place the building as adjacent to C&W. Good to have it's true status confirmed, and also to have my memory of a Wylie Court existing then being reinstated. Thank you David, and Phil.