Palmer and Turner, Hong Kong architects
article needs a couple, at least of images of Palmer and Turner architects.
HF: Our recently posted article, Hongkong and Kowloon Wharf and Godown Company, Ltd., building residential quarters for over 1,000 coolies and foremen, 1939, mentions that Palmer and Turner were the architects for this project. Palmer and Turner architects, now known as P&T Group is an architectural firm in Hong Kong. It is one of the oldest architecture and engineering firms in the world, and has designed many landmark buildings in Hong Kong, Shanghai and southeast Asia.
Based in Hong Kong P&T claims its roots when architect William Salway set up his own practice on 1st October 1868. Herbert William Bird, a partner of the firm from 1901 to 1928, was also a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. Hong Kong public records suggest that Palmer & Turner arose out of Palmer & Bird – a prominent firm at the time whose senior partner was Lennox Godfrey Bird, younger brother of HW Bird. It is known that Clement Palmer, then only 23 years of age designed the first Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank Building in 1883.
The first building on the left of the photo above is Wardley House, used as an office by HSBC from 1865 to 1882, located next to the coastline on Des Voeux Road.
Arthur Turner, a structural engineer, joined the firm in 1884. From 1891 onwards, the name Palmer and Turner was kept, despite the arrival of new partners.
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the practice was very active in colonial Hong Kong , and in Shanghai, which was a treaty port at the time. A Shanghai office of Palmer and Turner was opened in the mid-1920s, and it designed many important buildings that constitute the Old Bund in Shanghai including the Peace Hotel.
The origins of the P&T Group date back to 1868, with founder William Salway’s arrival in Hong Kong from Australia, to establish a design practice in response to the demand for grander buildings. In the 1880s the Beaconfield Arcade was completed, Hong Kong’s first multi-storey shopping centre.
Beaconsfield Arcade 1880-1933. Photo date: unknown Source: Gwulo.com
Source: Wikipedia
This article was first posted on…
Related Indhhk articles: