Current condition
Demolished / No longer exists
Date completed
(Day, Month, & Year are approximate.)
Later place(s) at this location
Photos that show this Place
1845
c.1845
1857
Comments
I've added c.1846 as a
I've added c.1846 as a completion date, based on these notes from StephenD:
North Barracks
I'm working on what was called Palos Pier (a plinth built as an observing station for the transit instrument for the 1881 determination of HK's longitude by the measurement of telegraphic signals by the team from the USS Palos). It was located in the "artillery yard", in an open area north of North Barracks. As a result of work I did on HK's long lost figurehead collection, I discovered that Palos Pier had not been destroyed when it became redundant. Instead the RN converted it into a sundial and stuck a commemorative plaque on the front (which read, “Observing Station/U.S.S. Palos/1881/Lat. 220 16’-58”.19 N/Long. 1140 09’ – 42”.75 E”). There was a photo of it in the 'Old Hong Kong' column on 27 October 1933. Chasing up whether it survived the war - I think it did - and therefore when it was destroyed, I worked out from aerial photos that it was trashed in the building of Harcourt Road, which was driven through in ways that razed a huge area of the old dockyard in order to get fill to fill in the dry dock. The area included where Palos Pier had stood, so early 1960s photos just show a large car parking area. However, what was NOT demolished at that time was the old North Barracks building. That stands clearly still in the 1963 aerial photos and on the 1965 Crown Lands and Survey folks 1:600 series plans. However, by the 1970 1:600 series, the old North Barracks had gone. I'm sure further work with Lands Dept's excellent aerial photo coverage could pin the date down more tightly, but for the nonce, there's a date bracket for the destruction of that venerable building - 1965-1970, a prime time for the trashing of HK's heritage.
StephenD