Traces of the Taikoo Company Town in Mount Parker
Quarry Bay, once a remote area in the late 19th century, had been developed into a Company Town in the Island East following the establishment of Taikoo Sugar Refinery and Taikoo Dockyard. Situated at Mt. Parker Road, the Woodside Biodiversity Education Centre (also known as Woodside) was also part of this town. Woodside was built by the Swires in 1920, and was listed as Grade II Historic Building in 2010. It was then converted into a nature education centre in 2012.
Woodside was the former residence for senior staff of the Taikoo Sugar Refinery. With industry booming at that time, in addition to sugar refinery and shipyards, the Company Town also has sanitarium, cable car, and even reservoirs, etc. Nowadays, traces of these historic relics can still be found in the countryside of Mount Parker.
Taikoo Cable Car
Taikoo cable car, constructed by Buttereld & Swire in 1892, was the world’s first passenger cable car system powered by steam. The cable car ropeway connected the Taikoo Sugar Refinery in Quarry bay and the company sanitarium uphill at Quarry Gap (Tai Fung Au), carrying senior staff and their families to the summer retreat. The system consisted of two cars traveling with a speed of 8 miles per hour in opposite directions, each with a capacity of 6 passengers. This steam machinery-powered system costed £5,000, and was a major construction project at the time.
By the late 1920s, the need for a cool and secluded uphill escape diminished with the rising commonplace of the electrical fan in households. The sanitarium was torn down in 1932 and the cable car system was dismantled alongside because of its high maintenance costs. The concrete base remnant of the cable car terminal can still be seen at Quarry Gap.
Taikoo Cable Car ropeway connected Quarry bay and Quarry Gap, 1925 (Copyright: Swire Archives)
Overlooking from the top and see reservoir and sugar refinery, 1892 (Copyright: Swire Archives)
Concrete base remnants of the cable car system
Concrete base remnants of the cable car system
Taikoo Sanitarium
The terminal of the cable car was the Taikoo Sanitarium at Quarry Gap. During the summer, weather in Hong Kong is generally very hot and humid. Therefore, the company built these summer houses at the breezy Quarry Gap, providing a tranquil and cool retreat for senior staff and their families. The Sanitarium opened in 1892 with two three-storey buildings built with red bricks on a stone buttress foundation. Granite carvings were used to decorate the arched windows and comices.
Expansion of the company and the recurring Bubonic Plague in Hong Kong (1894–1923) created higher demands for uphill accommodation. A third block with 4-storey was added in 1912 to meet rising demands for retreat.
With the growing popularity of electric fan at home, the usage of the summer retreat was getting low. In 1932, both the cable car system and the Sanitarium were demolished for the cost of keeping them were high, now, only traces of the stone foundation and the boundary stones still remain.
The Sanitarium, 1893 (Copyright: Swire Archives)
The remains of the Sanitarium’s foundation
The foundation was built by stone and red bricks
Boundary Stones “R.B.L. 63” of the Sanitarium
Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) produced two videos with the support of Swire Archives, showing Swire’s traces of historic relics in Mount Parker that are deeply connected to the Taikoo Company Town. Check out the videos below to learn more the fascinating stories behind.
Mount Parker – Traces of a Company Town
https://youtu.be/jaA8ROHAekk?si=mlf73_8Rxy_di_L5
The Past & Present of Woodside
https://youtu.be/0FZu2HalT4Y?si=umYdNLltJO4QKIfm