Ice House Street name origin

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 04/15/2010 - 10:31

I bought a t-shirt with the Ice House Street sign on it and started looking for info on the origin of the street's name. I've found two conflicting stories on Wikipedia. Was Ice House Street named for the Dairy Farm ice house built in 1911 on the street that would become Ice House St.? Or, was the Dairy Farm ice house in the present-day Fringe Club on Lower Albert? If it was the latter, why was Ice House Street named that if the ice house wasn't on that street? (The Fringe Club was built in 1913, or at least expanded/renovated from the original Dairy Farm ice house, which was built in the late 1800s, I think).

Thanks!

Susan B-K

Wikipedia is the HK Historian's worst enemy, and the amount of guff carried over from ill-researched coffee table books is unbelievable. Ice House St (or Lane) dates back to the mid 19th century, and an Ice House was first erected in HK in 1845. You can see old adverts for ice being available there in 1845 editions of Friend of China from about July onwards. It was operated by the Tudor company.