Location: 1-11 Mallory Street and 6-12 Burrows Street Area
: 780 square metres Existing GFA : 2,687 square metres No. of
buildings: 10 tenement houses Population : 122 No. of interests:
10 Building age: Mid-1920s
Project Development
Information
Total GFA : 2,140 square metres Other uses : 2,140 square
metres Open space : 300 square metres
Historical
linkage
The lot was first owned by the American firm of Messrs Burrows
and Sons and eventually Lawrence Mallory. The two streets were named after the
two owners.
The area was once used as timber yard and boat building yard,
later on occupied by warehouses, timber/coal storage and several other small
industries.
Hong Kong Land Investment Co., possessed the area around 1905
and turned the lot into 10 tenement houses in mid
1920s.
Architectural
attributes
The 10 pre-war residential blocks are unique Chinese-styled
tenement houses, Tong lau, that were predominantly seen all over
southern Chinese cities and town before the 1980s.
Tong lau's existence was a culmination of a series of
historic forces from economic development of Hong Kong, Second World War as well
as the influx of Chinese migrants to Hong Kong.
The 10 tenement houses are Balcony Type shop houses with
pragmatic design.
The ground floors of these tenements are used as shops while
the three storeys above were residential.
Light wells of the tenements are located between the living
space and the kitchen at the back but with no toilet
facilities.
The external and main walls are made of plaster rendered red
brickwork with tiled timber floor and column and beams of concrete. Conventional
grid pattern with the scavenging lanes can be seen.
The roofs are original Chinese-tile pitch roof structure
supported on round China-fir beams and rafters with a high
ceiling.
