1960 Hong Kong in colour slides

Submitted by David on

Visit 1960 Hong Kong via twenty colour slides. As always, lots of clues to explore, plus a mystery with the Furama Hotel I hope you'll be able to explain.

(If the video doesn’t appear below, please click here to watch it on Youtube). 

Here are links to more information about the various topics mentioned, listed by the time they appear in the video:

Comments

From Adrian Fu's The Fu Tak Iam Story.



September 3rd 1954 - Fu Tak Iam wins the auction for the site with a bid of $3.63M



November 1957 - Bureau of Public Works approved plan for a 32-storey commercial building on the old Oriental Building site. This plan was earlier challenged by Swire and Eastern Telegraph (later C&W). The latter objected on the basis of the construction would damage their radio equipment. Swire claimed the original Oriental Building had encroached onto one of their plots by 3ft. The plot was occupied by a small 3-storey red brick building. Swire demanded the restoration of the original plot boundary. Fu ended up purchasing the Swire plot and incorporating it into the new site plans approved in 1957.



Date unspecified but probably late 1957/early 1958: The Japanese contractor for the foundation works discovered a layer of soft clay beneath the rock layer - a geotechnical issue that delayed the project for a further 8 years.



1965 - foundation work restarted by Gammon who used 220 foot piles to reach below the clay layer. Piling work took 15 months to complete.



December 1973* - Furama Hotel officially opened under joint operation of the Fu family and Miramar Hotel Group

 

* see comments on the hotel's place page (https://gwulo.com/Furama-Hotel-Hong-Kong) for further description of opening dates.