Department: Real Estate and Construction
Active Dates: 2020 - 2022
Principal Investigators (PI): Dr. SW Poon, Dr. Katherine Deng
Funding Agency: The Lord Wilson Heritage Trust
This project aims to study the exportation history of Hong Kong’s quality granite to the Pacific Rim and the construction history of those overseas projects using exported stones in the 19th and 20th century. The following five aspects are investigated:
The colonial government record in 1844 granite was shipped to mainland China. During 1850s and 1860s, granite blocks were exported to mainland China, New South Wales, San Francisco and Siam and used as building materials and paving slabs.
In 1852, the façade of Parrott Building in San Francisco was cladded with quality granite from Hong Kong. Twenty workers and two supervisors from Hong Kong boarded a cross-Pacific ship for the erection of this epoch-making building.
Between 1860 and 1870, granite was quarried in Kowloon, for the construction of the French Catholic Church in Canton.
In 1890, the Gap Rock Lighthouse was built by a Hong Kong contractor using the granite from Hong Kong.
Between 1928 and 1933, quality granite was chosen in the projects of The Mausoleum in Nanjing, The Memorial Auditorium and the Memorial Cenotaph in Guangzhou in remembrance of Dr. SUN Yat-sen. These projects were designed by architect LU Yen-chih and constructed partly by contractors from Hong Kong.
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