1890 Albumen Photographs of Hong Kong, Waterfront and Cityscape

Hong Kong's Central Waterfront.

This is a unique set of c. 1890 back-to-back albumen photographs of Hong Kong, including images of Pedder's Wharf, the main part of the city (now Central District), and Douglas Castle. They offer a snapshot of the city as it developed into one of the archetypal colonial centers of the late 19th century.

A Closer Look

The single image on the recto is oriented towards the southeast, looking over 'Peddar's Wharf,' more commonly spelled Pedder's Wharf for its location at the end of Pedder Street. The verso includes two images; that at top is effectively the opposite view of the photograph on the recto, looking northwest towards the waterfront from the direction of St. John's and the Murray Barracks. The photograph at bottom takes in Douglas Castle, now University Hall, University of Hong Kong, built by one of the colony's early grandees, who was a leader in multiple business ventures, including the founding of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC).

Pedder's Wharf

The wharf was one of the main points of disembarkation in Hong Kong and the surrounding waterfront buildings included offices of the city's major trading and shipping firms, banks, and colonial administration. The pier seen here was the third at that location, built c. 1886 and closed in 1894. In 1900, the disused Pedder's Wharf was replaced by Blake Pier, which became the main point of arrival for colonial governors and other dignitaries in Hong Kong. Blake Pier was relocated to Stanley on the south side of Hong Kong Island in 2006. In the background of the photograph is St. John's Cathedral, now one of the oldest surviving public buildings in Hong Kong and the oldest Anglican Church in East Asia.

Douglas Castle

Douglas Castle is named for Douglas Lapraik (1818 - 1869), a trader and shipping magnate who had co-founded the Hong Kong and Whampoa Dock Company and HSBC. The mansion, consisting of two main and several additional structures built over several years in the 1860s, is located at Pok Fu Lam, on the western side of Hong Kong Island. At the time of construction, this area was quite remote, and most other taipans lived on Victoria Peak, but it was near an important reservoir being established to provide the city with clean drinking water, and moreover, from there, Douglas Lapraik could watch his ships entering and leaving the harbor. Though he returned to Britain in 1866, the castle was passed on to his nephew and then to his nephew's son, who sold it to the French Catholic Missions Etrangères de Paris (MEP) in the midst of a devastating outbreak of bubonic plague in 1894. The missionaries rechristened the building Nazareth and expanded it to accommodate various ventures, including a printing house (Nazareth Press) that was one of the most active missionary presses in East Asia. After being used as a headquarters of the Japanese Kempeitai during World War II (1939 - 1945), the castle returned to the MEP, who then sold it to the University of Hong Kong in 1954, whereupon it became a dormitory (University Hall) and remains so today.

Publication History and Census

These photographs were taken by an unknown photographer c. 1890. We have only been able to locate one other example of the Pedder's Wharf photograph, in a private collection, and have identified no other examples of the verso photographs of Hong Kong and Douglas Castle.

Condition

Very good. Mounted albumen photographs. Image represents recto (front) and verso (back) of single card.