Eastern Cotton Mills
Added information in red
On 10th December 2012 the SCMP reported on the almost complete demolition of the Eastern Cotton Mills situated in Mok Cheong Street, Ma Tau Wai, Kowloon. The article reports on the comments of a representative of the Conservancy Association and the, now lost, possibility of “development-cum-conservation” at the site.
York Lo: The Mill was set up in 1954 by two prominent families the Fus and the Wans. The Fu family (best known for building the Furama Hotel in HK) is from Macau where they jointly controlled the gambling monopoly with the Ko family until 1961. C.S. Wan(萬春先) and his son James Wan Sam-ja who ran Eastern Cotton Mill day to day was from Shanghai.
It closed in 1981.
This link shows the SCMP article.
http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1101605/lump-concrete-facade-all-remains-eastern-cotton-mills
This link provides further information about the company and factory, the factories architectural merit, “built heritage value” and the possibility of Adaptive Re-use. The Mill is item number 6. http://www.amo.gov.hk/form/all_new_seven_items_history.pdf
Hugh Farmer adds:– This is what remains of the mill today. I visited on 14 Dec 2013. These windows, supported by steel structures behind are all that is left. The site is completely empty with no sign of redevelopment.
Courtesy SCMP
The line “The Mill was set up in 1954 by two prominent families from Shanghai” is inaccurate. The two families are the Fus and the Wans. The Fu family (best known for building the Furama Hotel in HK) is from Macau where they jointly controlled the gambling monopoly with the Ko family until 1961. C.S. Wan(萬春先) and his son James Wan Sam-ja who ran Eastern Cotton Mill day to day was from Shanghai. In 1973 they set up PT Eratex Djaja in Indonesia as a joint venture with fellow Hong Kong spinner UniSouth (controlled by the Liu brothers, the brother in laws of dyeing and Discovery Bay tycoon Cha Chi Ming) and Rodamas (founded by Indonesian Chinese tycoon Tan Siong Kee). Eratex remains one of the largest textile manufacturers in Indonesia today and is a listed company on the Jakarta Stock Exchange. (Eastern Cotton Mills owned 25% of Eratex for many years)