A couple months ago when I was looking into the origins of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels Limited, I came across one of their holdings I hadn’t heard of before–the Peak Hotel.
How had I missed this one?
Examining this postcard, I can’t see where one building ends and another starts. The hotel looks positively like a fortress.
So I did a little research. A 20-room hotel was built on the Peak in 1888, the very year the Peak Tram opened. Then two years later, it was completely rebuilt into the structure shown in this postcard. The Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels bought the Peak Hotel in 1922, the same year they laid the foundation for the Peninsula.
The Peak suffered deterioration and was closed in 1936.
Sadly, two years later the building succumbed to a fire.
Hope that you can post more about old HK
I will! Thank you!!
My great aunt Helen Harry was manageress of the Peak Hotel in the 1920’s. My mother remembered her visiting England, very fashionable, and we had a black lace dress she used to wear (until my sister trashed it wearing it to a tarts and vicars party in the ‘80’s). Would love to get a book on the history of the hotel.
What great memories and that dress!! How splendid! I wonder if there is a book about the hotel. I know that Blacksmith Books has published a book about the Peak, so I’m guessing the old hotel would be mentioned somewhere. That might be a good start.