The Far East Land Property Credit Company/ Crédit foncier d’Extrême-Orient, in Hong Kong c1907 to 1959
Our recently posted article, South China Bricks and Tiles Manufacturing Company – reopening of plant at San Hui, Castle Peak, New Territories has a reference to Credit Foncier S’Extreme Orient: “The original designing of the works, very little of which has since been altered, was done by Credit Foncier S’Extreme Orient. Mr. G.Van Wylick being then in charge.” Intrigued I thought I would try and find out more about the company which I had not heard of before, though I think the correct spelling is d’Extrême-Orient.
The Far East Land Property Credit Company (Crédit foncier d’Extrême-Orient cfeo) is a Franco-Belgian company that specializes in mortgages and infrastructure financing and modern technology, but also in the construction and maintenance of buildings. From 1907 to 1959, about thirty mainly Belgian and French architects worked for this company in China, Hong Kong and Singapore. After introducing problems and issues relating to the archives of Belgian companies in general and Belgian companies in China more specifically, the article will present an outline of the history of the cfeo and its archives before lingering on specific architect’s firms, architects, projects and constructions. In addition to the archives of the company’s headquarters in Brussels, additional collections (architects, clients, municipal) and monumental sources (considered to be patrimony more or less) are considered. The potential and limits of the cfeo archives for the architectural historian serve as a guiding line for a critical approach.(1)
Source: The Hongkong Telegraph 1928 Courtesy: Gwulo.com
Construction of the Church of the Maryknoll Sisters in Kowloon, Hong Kong (1952), and building works in Tianjin, China (1932). Source: OpenEdition Journals (see Sources)
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