Steps in Amoy Street, Wan Chai, Hong Kong
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STEPS IN AMOY STREET, WAN CHAI, HONG KONG Contents 1. Background of the Study 2. Research on the Study Area 2.1 Early History of the Study Area 2.2 Amoy Street: Origins and Early Development 3. The Steps in Amoy Street: Preliminary Findings 3.1 Site Observations 3.2 Land Records 4. Findings of Ground Investigations at No. 186 Queen’s Road East 5. Comparison with Swatow Street 6. Conclusions 7. Bibliography 8. Chronology of Events 9. Plates 1 Pottinger’s Map (1842) 2 Gordon’s Map (1843) 3 Lt Collinson’s Ordnance Survey (1845) 4 Plan of Marine Lot 40 (1859) 5 Plan of Marine Lot 40 (1866) 6 Plan of Marine Lot 40 (1889) 7 Plan of Amoy & Swatow Lanes (1901) 8 Plan of Amoy & Swatow Streets (1921) 9 Plan of Amoy & Swatow Streets (1936) 10 Widening of Amoy Street (1949) 11 Surrender of Sec. A of I.L. 4333 (1949) 12 Plan of Amoy & Swatow Streets (1959) 13 Plan of Swatow Street (1938) 14 Plan of Amoy & Swatow Streets (1963) 15 Plan of Amoy & Swatow Streets (1967) 1 1. Background of the Study 1.1 The Urban Renewal Authority (URA) will redevelop the site of Lee Tung Street and McGregor Street for a comprehensive commercial and residential development with GIC facilities and public open space. Shophouses at 186-190 Queen’s Road East (Grade II) will be conserved for adaptive re-use. The Town Planning Board (TPB) at its meeting on 22 May 2007 approved the Master Layout Plan submitted by URA with conditions including the submission of a conservation plan for the shophouses to be preserved within the site to the satisfaction of the Director of Leisure and Cultural Services or of the TPB. The steps in Amoy Street Proposed lay-by and turnaround along Amoy Street (as at 16 August 2007) 1.2 Under the redevelopment scheme, a lay-by and turnaround along Amoy Street ( 廈門街) is proposed to provide through traffic southbound to Queen’s Road East, as a result of the closing of Lee Tung Street for pedestrianization. This would entail the demolition of a set of steps at the level difference between Amoy Street and Queen’s Road East. 1.3 An assessment of the site, with particular emphasis on the steps in Amoy Street and Swatow Street and their adjoining areas, has been conducted by the Antiquities and Monuments Office (AMO) of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD). Archaeological excavation has been conducted in accordance with existing policy and practice. 2 1.4 Photos of the steps in Amoy Street and Swatow Street are on the following pages. 3 Steps in Amoy Street Photo 1. Viewing from north to south Photo 2. Viewing from south to north The stone tablet Photo 3. Stone tablet “I.L. 4333” Photo 4. Stone tablet “I.L. 4333” Photo 5. Side view of the Steps Photo 6. Side view of the Steps 4 Steps in Swatow Street Photo 7. Steps in Swatow Street Photo 8. The flight of six concrete steps close to Queen’s Road East Public utilities manhole cover Stone Concrete Photo 9. The two flights of narrow concrete steps Photo 10. Part of steps repaired with concrete connected by landings 5 2. Research on the Study Area 2.1 Early History of the Study Area 2.1.1 The early coastline of Wan Chai (literally, “small bay”) extended from the west of Morrison Hill to Queen’s Road East around Hung Shing Temple (also known as Tai Wong Temple), which may have existed as a shrine long before the British came to Hong Kong Island (Mak et al. 1974, 203). Wan Chai was developed into a European centre in 1840s to 1850s and has become an increasingly Chinese residential, labouring and shop-keeping community by 1860s. 2.1.2 The coastline of Wan Chai underwent considerable changes in the last century. Several reclamation projects were carried out over the years to meet the growing demand for land arising from population growth and economic development. The Praya Reclamation Scheme during 1921-1931 doubled the area of Wan Chai ( Hong Kong Legislative Council Sessional Papers, No.1/1931, 6; Hong Kong Daily Press Office 1940, A-477). 2.1.3 In the early days numerous sampans gathered along the shoreline near the Hung Shing Temple which was a landmark seen from the water. Local fishermen and boat builders plied their trade here, and later the British built shipyards, piers (Burns’ Pier and Larkin’s Pier) and godowns. Shops such as ships’ chandlers and other maritime trades were set up (Wordie 2002, 102; Er 2003, 185-186). This association with the sea is still remembered today in street names such as Ship Street ( 船街), Schooner Street ( 捷船街) and Sam Pan Street ( 三板街). 2.1.4 The area now known as Wan Chai was developed into a European commercial and residential centre after the arrival of the British in 1841. Queen’s Road East, one of the oldest roads along the oldest northern shore of Wan Chai, was built in 1840s to become the main thoroughfare of the British settlement (Eitel 1983, 185). 6 2.2 Amoy Street: Origins and Early Development 2.2.1 The British arrived at Hong Kong in January 1841 and the first land sales, by public auction, took place on 14 June. Thirty marine lots were then ready for sale, each having a frontage along Queen’s Road, and varying in depth to the shore according to the shape of the coastline (Endacott 1973, 28; Eitel 1983, 172-173). 2.2.2 Amoy Street was opened up on Marine Lot 40 (M.L. 40), north of Queen’s Road East ( Hong Kong Administrative Report 1915, Q-23). According to British colonial records, M.L. 40 measured 6,000 square feet. Its first purchaser was MacVicar & Co. which used the lot as warehouse and paid an annual rent of ￡75 to the Hong Kong government (Ho 2004, 29). 2.2.3 M.L. 40 passed in succession through the hands of several owners. Since the 1840s, this site (then being the sea front) was once occupied by a pier named Burn’s Pier, probably named after leading British merchant and Justice of the Peace, D.L. Burn (Eitel 1983, 159). Later on, it became a property of Dr Patrick Manson (founder of Dairy Farm) who came to Hong Kong in 1883 from Amoy where he had been serving as a medical officer in the Chinese Maritime Customs, as well as the site of sugar factories, etc. (Crisswell 1979; Smith 1995, 125). 2.2.2 Amoy Street originally was called Amoy Lane. By 1915, Amoy Lane was a private lane as well as ‘cul-de-sac’ (i.e. a short road which is closed at one end by houses or by a barrier of some kind) opening off Queen’s Road East, its northern ends being blocked by godowns which occupied the northern portion of M.L. 40 ( Hong Kong Administrative Report 1915, Q-59). 2.2.3 In 1914/15, the owner of the godowns having decided to erect houses on his lot, it became necessary for him to lay out streets. Accordingly, Amoy Lane was extended through the rest of the lot (M.L. 40) to the Praya East (the present Johnston Road). Forming, surfacing, kerbing, channeling and paving extensions (30 feet wide) were done in 1915. In view of the altered conditions, the ‘lane’ was renamed ‘street’ ( Hong Kong Government Gazette, 25 June 1915, 325; Hong Kong Hansard 24 June 1915, 46). 7 2.2.4 In 1916, re-surfacing and other repairs under the provisions of Section 186 of the Buildings Ordinance were carried out by the Public Works Department at the cost of the frontagers in Amoy Street and Swatow Street (Hong Kong Administrative Report 1916, Q-17). 2.2.5 In 1923 and 1926, storm-water drains and sewers were laid at Amoy Street, as part of the Praya East Reclamation Scheme which necessitated not only the raising of certain roads with all sewers and storm-water drains but also the ground floor levels of some of the old houses. This was necessary in order to provide satisfactory gradients and outfalls for the discharge of storm water and sewers on the line of the new sea wall ( Hong Kong Administrative Report 1923, Q-102; 1926, Q-81; Hong Kong Legislative Council Sessional Papers, No.1/1931, 1). 3. The Steps in Amoy Street: Preliminary Findings 3.1 Site Observations 3.1.1 The existing seven steps of Amoy Street (the Steps) are built of modern concrete, flanked by two modern railings at each side. They are ordinary steps with no architectural merits. 3.1.2 Traces on the Steps indicate that half of the Steps have been altered recently. An old-time resident, who has been living in Wan Chai since 1956 and working in Amoy Street for some 20 years, recalled that the Steps have been repaired in recent years, and that there were no railings on the Steps in the past (Kwan Yau-fen pers. comm. ). 3.1.3 From evidence in other places the original steps were probably granite slabs. The present concrete steps show a distinct joint in the centre probably because the steps were built in two halves so as not to disrupt pedestrian access to and fro (Photo 11). 8 The join t Photo 11. The joint at the centre of the Steps in Amoy Street 3.1.4 The platform at the junction of Amoy Street and Queen’s Road East is paved by red bricks, and the area close to the Steps (about 3 x 7 m) has more than twelve marks of public service utilities, e.g., electricity, drainage, gas, drinkable water and tele-communication, which pipe works are probably laid underneath, so the area has been disturbed.