閣麟街唐樓群遺跡 Building Remains at Cochrane Street | 香港文化古蹟資源中心 Hong Kong Resource Centre for Heritage

November 13th, 2021

閣麟街唐樓群遺跡 Building Remains at Cochrane Street
資源庫

鳴謝張朝敦先生提供照片。 Photos courtesy of Mr Charlton Cheung.

大家經過中環扶手電梯時有否留意過這些被鐵絲網包圍的古牆？眼前由青磚和花崗石建造的古牆遺跡屬於1879至1880年間建成的十幢唐樓群，是現存香港最古老的民房遺跡。自1903年政府為避免鼠疫傳播、立法規定唐樓背後必須留有後巷開始，這遺跡便成為香港現時碩果僅存的「背靠背」建築。

傳奇華人女子吳阿嬌亦曾居住在這唐樓群，她「被洋人保護的婦女」的身份，揭示了吉士笠街被稱為「紅毛嬌街」的故事，更反映出早期香港華洋雜處的文化。

市建局現計劃原址保留其中一段遺跡，並興建博物館展示昔日舊唐樓和庶民的生活面貌。

粵語：

CACHe · 005C

國語：

CACHe · 005M

While riding on the Mid-Levels escalator, do you see below you some old walls that are surrounded by wire fencing? Built of blue brick and granite stone, these walls are the oldest house remains in Hong Kong that belong to ten tenement houses constructed between 1879 and 1880. To prevent the spread of the bubonic plague, the government enacted laws that required a sanitary lane to be built behind buildings that were erected after 1903. These old walls became the remnants of one of the few remaining back-to-back building structures in Hong Kong.

The legendary Chinese woman Ng Akew was a resident of one of these tenement houses. Her identity as a ‘protected woman’ at that time revealed the story of Gutzlaff Street—popularly known as ‘Red-haired Dame Street’—and speaks about the culture of early Hong Kong as a multicultural city inhabited by Chinese and Westerners.

The Urban Renewal Authority is planning to preserve part of the remains and build a museum to exhibit the architecture of old tenement houses and the lives of people who resided there.