RA@ Hong Kong Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception

The Hong Kong Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (traditional Chinese: 聖母無原罪主教座堂) is the Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong. It is the seat of the Diocesan bishop, currently John Tong Hon. The Cathedral is one of the two cathedrals in the city of Hong Kong, the other being the Anglican St. John's Cathedral.

It is located at 16 Caine Road, Central. It is open from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm daily. It is graded as Grade I Historic Building.

The first Roman Catholic cathedral of Hong Kong was built in 1843 on Wellington Street and destroyed in a fire in 1859. The cathedral was rebuilt, but subsequently a different site was selected just above Caine Road by the Glenealy Ravine, where it is still located today. The Cathedral was designed by Crawley and Company of London. Construction of the new building started in 1883. Services first began in July 1886 under the auspices of the Apostolic Vicar Dominic Pozzoni and the first Mass was celebrated on 7 December 1888.



(The narthex in the Cathedral)



It was a Cathedral from the time it was built, as the seat of the apostolic vicariate that preceded the establishment of the diocese in 1946; however, it was not consecrated as a cathedral until 1938.

The Cathedral’s original timber roof was replaced with a concrete roof in 1952; the main altar was also reconstructed in the early 1980s.

                                                         (The nave of the Cathedral)

The Cathedral underwent renovation in 2002, and the renovation project was recognized by an Honorable Mention in the 2003 UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation.

The Cathedral measures 272 feet (83 m) long and 132 ft (40 m) wide, with 38 columns. It is an imposing Gothic Revival style built in a Greek cruciform shape with a tower at the intersection of the nave and transepts. It is constructed predominantly of bricks and stone over a granite platform and is supported by external buttresses.

                                                        (The exterior of the Cathedral)

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong_Catholic_Cathedral_of_the_Immaculate_Conception
http://cathedral.catholic.org.hk/index.php?id=2
http://www.catholic.org.hk/v2/b5/index.html

RA@ Western Market

Western Market is also a former name for Plaza Miserere.

(Sheung Wan old market façade)

Western Market (環街市; currently, 西港城) is one of the oldest structures in Sheung Wan, Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. The current structure was the North Block of the original Western Market. It is the oldest surviving market building in the city. The former South Block was replaced by the Sheung Wan Complex in 1981.

(Western Market, Connaught Road Central façade)

Western Market is located at 323 Des Voeux Road Central. The market occupies a whole city block and is surrounded by the following streets: Des Voeux Road Central (South), Morrison Street (East), Connaught Road Central (North) and On Tai Street (West).

(The south side of the Western Market)

Sheung Wan Complex, now called the Sheung Wan Municipal Services Building, the site of the former South Block, is located at 345 Queen's Road Central. It is surrounded by: Queen's Road Central (South), Morrison Street (East) and Bonham Strand (North).

The Western Market came into business in September 1844. Western Market later consisted of two separate blocks: South Block (demolished) and North Block (the current "Western Market").

(One of the current tenants on the 1st floor is Mr Chan who is a cloth dealer)

The South Block at Queen's Road Central was built in 1858 and demolished in 1980. It was replaced by the Sheung Wan Complex in 1981.

The North Block, smaller and more compact in design, was preserved and renovated by Land Development Corporation. This Edwardian-style building was built in 1906[3] as an extension of the then existing Western Market. It was the former site of Harbour Office that had been moved to a reclamation area in Central District for a larger space to cope with its increasing workload. The old building of Harbour Office was pulled down to build the North Block of Western Market.

(Western Market Enterance)

It operated as a food market until 1988. In 1990, it was declared a historical monument and the renovated market building re-opened as "the Western Market" in 1991. Further refurbishment work was conducted in 2003.

The four-storey building is in Edwardian style that was popular in England from 1901 to 1918. The brickwork on the 4 corner towers is "bandaged", giving a polychromatic effect.

(Stairs inside the building)

A current tenant includes Bavarian-style bakery, Chinese dessert shop and several curio shops.
On the first floor there is a wide range of cloth and textile for sale. The top floor is a restaurant with dancing and live music. On the flyover next to Western Market are a few old pictures with explanations from times long gone?

Resources:http://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hk/%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF%E6%B3%95%E5%AE%9A%E5%8F%A4%E8%B9%9F
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Market
http://www.amo.gov.hk/en/trails_sheungwan1.php?tid=34
http://www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/Museum/Monument/en/monuments_42.php

  

RA@ Bishop's House

The Bishop's House (會督府, 主教府) is located at 1 Lower Albert Road, Central. It is the residence and office of the Archbishop of Hong Kong.

It was originally designed as a school for Chinese students and for many years housed St Paul's College. The house's origins can be dated from 1843, when Vincent Stanton was appointed Colonial Chaplain of Hong Kong. The building was completed in 1848. When the new Diocese of Victoria was created, Stanton handed over the college property to the newly appointed bishop, George Smith.

The Bishop's House is an imposing building, both in design and proportions. The interior of the building has been completed renovated and modernized as late as 1967–1968. It has been listed as a Grade I historic building.

For Architectural style, it adopts simply and elegant design, built into a granite cornerstone. There is a bunker-style three-story octagonal tower and Western-style buildings in Hong Kong early; it’s longer than a long history of Government House.

In 2009, the Anglican Church announced that it will spend around 800 million to preserve Central buildings, here are some historic buildings will be retained and rehabilitation is following:

Bishop's House: Built in 1848, it’s a historic building now. It was built into the granite cornerstone, two-story and three-story side behind a bunker-style octagonal tower. It is The Former Bishop and St. Paul's College premises originally. It may retain for Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui (Anglican Church) Archbishop's and will be equipped with museums, the new window-type of air-conditioners and stairs was removed in recent years and it set up facilities for the disabled person to make them conveniently.

St. Paul's Church: Built in 1911, is proposed for a historic building and adopt Gothic style. At the top of the tower has a long and pointed, as early as the Chinese Central Christian Church designed. At the upper is a chapel, lower for St. Paul's College classrooms. In World War II, churches were expropriated for the Japanese military police for training school and it’s fully opened after renovation.

Source:

http://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hk/%E6%9C%83%E7%9D%A3%E5%BA%9C

http://www.bishophouse.com/

RA@ Nam Koo Terrace

Have you ever heard Nam Koo Terrace (南固臺)? It is one of famous heritage in Hong Kong. As Halloween is coming soon, will you try to experience and to explore this strange and terrible place in there?Do you want to know more now?

Nam Koo Terrace (南固臺) is a Grade I Historic Building. It's located at No. 55 Ship Street, Wan Chai, Hong Kong, popularly known as "The Wan Chai Haunted House". The building is currently owned by Hopewell Holdings, a large property development company based in Hong Kong.

The two-storey red brick building was built in c.1915-1921 and owned by a wealthy Shanghai merchant family by the name of To (杜).

Nam Koo Terrace continued to remain under the ownership of the To family until 1988, when the property was sold to YUBA Co. Ltd.

Hopewell Holdings took over ownership of the building in 1993, which was initially acquired to be demolished in order to make way for their Mega Tower hotel project (Hopewell Centre II). However, the site has stood vacant since then; despite the fact that the company's development proposal gained Government approval in 1994. While Hopewell Holdings remains the current proprietor of Nam Koo Terrace; recent public announcements indicate that their intentions have now shifted to the preservation, rather than the demolition, of this historical site.

For architecture, it is a site of significant cultural and architectural heritage stemming from Hong Kong's Colonial Era. The building was designed as a European-style house in the 1910s when large private lots on the hillside below Kennedy Road were sold for real estate development.

Beside, it is also a two-storey mansion, incorporating strong elements of both Eastern and Western architectural styles. As one of the more prominent villas in the Wan Chai District, Nam Koo Terrace covers over two hundred square meters of land. It is also referred to as the "red house" because the majority of the building's external wall is constructed from red bricks. Today, the building exists in a ruined state due to the effects of corrosion suffered during the Japanese invasion and ineffective preservation.

As well as embracing the Colonial Eclectic style, Nam Koo Terrace also adopts Classical Revival and Italian Renaissance architectural features combined with traditional Chinese decorations and motifs. The red bricked outer wall of the building is considered to be one of the major features of its architectural construction. Besides the red brickwork; rusticated quoins, moulded cornices, and voussoired arches over the windows add to the uniqueness of the structure's architecture.

Since Nam Koo Terrace has unoccupied for a long time as there are  many haunted rumors. In 2003, there are eight peoples of youth went to abandoned ship Street South to go on an adventure, allegedly, one of the girls was running around and barking, and change the male voice with mighty, should be sent four officers to subdue her finally.

"Nam Koo Terrace" has become a famous place to shooting for horrorible film nowaday, TV series "Finale in Blood (大鬧廣昌隆)" is one of them. Are you feel interested?

Source:
http://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hk/%E5%8D%97%E5%9B%BA%E8%87%BA
http://www.arch.cuhk.edu.hk/server2/resch/livearch/projects-wanchai_roadshow.html
http://www.arch.cuhk.edu.hk/server2/resch/livearch/projects-wanchai_roadshow.html

C@The Hong Kong Observatory

What I want to introduce today is Hong Kong Observatory .Hong Kong Observatory known as the Royal Observatory Hong Kong  before 1997, is a department of the Hong Kong Government. The Observatory forecasts weather and issues warnings on weather-related hazards.



The Observatory was established in 1883 by the 9th Governor of Hong Kong George Bowen. Early operations included meteorological and magnetic observations.The Hong Kong Observatory was built in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon Peninsula in 1883. Observatory Road in Tsim Sha Tsui is so named based on this landmark. The Observatory is now surrounded by skyscrapers as a result of rapid urbanisation. However, it remains unrelocated.

 1883 Building
This building, built in 1883, is a rectangular two-storey plastered brick structure; it is characterised by arched windows and long verandas. It now houses the office of the directorate and to serve as a centre of administration of the Observatory.

The Friends of the Observatory, an interest group set up in 1996 to help the Observatory to promote Hong Kong Observatory and its services to the public, provide science extension activities in relation to the works of the Observatory and foster communication between the Observatory and the public, now has more than 7,000 individual and family members in total.
Voluntary docents from this interest group lead a "HKO Guided Tour" to let the public who applied for visit in advance to visit the headquarter of the Observatory, and learn about the history, environment and meteorological science applied by the Observatory.


Address: 134A Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

 Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong_Observatory
www.weather.gov.hk/contente.htm
www.heritage.gov.hk/en/index.htm

RA@ Blue House (Hong Kong)

Are you interested about “Blue House”(藍屋)? You go to there because of its special appearance? Do you want to know where does the name of "Blue House" come from? Let me introduce you firstly.

"Blue House" is a four-storey building, which is named from the brilliant blue colour painted on its external walls. When we come closer to the building, it is not difficult to recognize that not all the external walls are coloured in blue! It was said that the workers of the Lands Department only got blue paint during the period of repairing work, so it was used to renovate the external wall at the time.

It is situated at 72 Stone Nullah Lane in Wanchai, named for the brilliant blue colour painted on its external walls. It’s a pre-war building with more than seventy years of history that shows architectural characteristics of both Chinese and Western styles. Many of the internal structures like purlin, staircase, and railing are still preserved in their authentic wooden fabric.

It is one of the few remaining examples of Tong Lau of the balcony type in Hong Kong and it’s classified as Grade I historic building now.

About the Blue House, the upper floors is apart from 72 Stone Nullah Lane, are of timber structures. It’s contains two wooden stairs with all the original elements intact, are well maintained. Since there is no flushing toilet facility inside the building, it still needs the service of "Tao Ye Heung" (somebody helps to remove the excrement from the building every night)!

Recently, the building was part of a HK$100 million plan, unveiled by the Housing Society and the Urban Renewal Authority. It aims to preserve nine Chinese-style buildings in Wan Chai.

As time changes, most of old building may be demolished or left abandoned. We hoped that the "Blue House" can also be turned into a living history museum, which to illustrate the perplexing past of Wanchai to Hong Kong peoples especially to the future young generations.

Source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_House_(Hong_Kong)#External_links

http://hk.apple.nextmedia.com/template/apple/art_main.php?iss_id=20090923&sec_id=4104&subsec=11867&art_id=13239008