The Peak Hotel

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Peak Hotel was a hotel in Hong Kong.

The Peak Hotel started as a modest 10 room hotel at Victoria Gap. In 1881, Alexander Findlay Smith, a Scottish former railway man who owned the Peak Hotel, petitioned for the right to introduce a funicular railway to Hong Kong. He was hoping that the tram route would increase visitor traffic and boost business at the erstwhile Peak Hotel, which opened eight years earlier in 1873 on land he owned.^[1] The Peak Tram began operations in 1888.

Business did improve, and over time, the Peak Hotel was built larger and grander. It boasted of commodious and well-appointed accommodation, and the Hotel was deservedly popular. First the modest hotel was replaced by a large three story hotel. Later, another story to make it four stories, and then a two story annex with views down to Pok Fu Lam was built, and then a further addition doubled the size of the annex and added a third story. The hotel commanded a magnificent view of the city and the harbour in one direction, and of Pok Fu Lam facing Lamma Island in the other. (See photo ^[2])

In 1922 it was bought by the owners of the rival Hong Kong Hotel.^[3] for Hong Kong Dollars 600,000. The hotel's poor construction led to further deterioration. It closed in 1936^[3] and in 1938 its fate was finally sealed by a fire. ^[4]

[edit] References