Hong Kong Snapshot (45) 186-190 Queen’s Road East and Kee Wah Bakery 香港隨拍 (45) – 皇后大道東186-190號及奇華餅家

Today, let’s continue to talk about the conservation of HK buildings. The topic today is 186-190 Queen’s Road East, which is a rare successful conservation project in HK.

今天我們繼續談談香港的建築保育，這次我們來到灣仔的皇后大道東186-190號，而這一個亦是香港難得一個比較成功的保育項目。

(photo from Urban Renewal Authority HK)

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Guangzhou Qilou / Tong Lau 廣州騎樓

186-190 Queen’s Road East is a blocks of 3 Tong Lau. I have talked a lot about Tong Lau in my previous articles. But what is Tong Lau? Tong Lau is actually a tenement buildings style of South China, Hong Kong and Macau in the mid 19th century to the mid 20th century. As the south China is greatly influenced by the Europe in the 19th century, the building style of Tong Lau encompassed the features of Chinese and European architecture.

何謂唐樓？唐樓其實是中國南部、香港及澳門於19世紀中後期盛行的一種建築風格，當時的中國南部深受西方影響，在本來的建築中混和了西方的建築風格，形成了這種獨特的唐樓建築。

A block of old Tong Laus in Wan Chai
灣仔的一排舊唐樓

Tong Laus in the 19th century were usually 2-3 floor tall and built with green bricks. The roof were built with wood or Xieding tiles. Floors were connected with wooden stair. In the late 19th and early 20th century, Tong Laus were built to 3-4 fllor tall and the building materials became concrete. In Guangzhou, tong laus started have balcony. The balconies were supported by brick columns which extended to the pavement in front of the tong laus. Tong laus of HK were also influenced by this build style. The kind of Tong Laus is called “Guangzhou Qilou” or “Guangzhou Tong Lau”.

那個年代的一般唐樓樓高2至3層，以青磚建成，屋頂則是由木或瓦片砌成的斜頂，由木樓梯連接各層。後來到了19世紀末至20世紀初期，唐樓開始變成3-4層高，青磚改成混凝土，而在廣州一帶的唐樓開始設有騎樓，以磚砌支柱跨唐樓前的行人路，形成一個騎樓供居民避雨乘涼。這類型的唐樓亦影響了香港的唐樓風格，由於源自廣州，故這類的唐樓叫做「廣州騎樓」。

A block of Guangzhou Qilou in Guangzhou
廣州現存的騎樓
(photo from Wikipedia)

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186-190 Queen’s Road East皇后大道東186-190號

The buildings before revitalizing
活化前的皇后大道東186-190號
(photo from Urban Renewal Authority HK)

186-190 Queen’s Road East is a of the few Quangzhou Qilou still exists in Hong Kong. It is located at Wan Chai, which is 3 blocks buildings which was built in around 1930. The 3 blocks buildings were initially included in the renewal project of Lee Tung Street. Later the HK government decided to list them as one of the HK Grade III historic buildings and prosecute a conservation and revitalizing project.
(For more about Lee Tung Street, please check: [Hong Kong Snapshot (43) – The Wedding Card Street, a renewal fraud] (https://steemit.com/culture/@aaronli/hong-kong-snapshot-43-the-wedding-card-street-a-renewal-fraud-43)).

皇后大道東186-190號正是香港僅存的少數唐州騎樓之一。皇后大道東186-190號位於灣仔，始建於約1930年，是一座已有90年歷史的3幢式唐樓。本來這3幢式唐樓被納入了利東街的重建計劃當中，但之後經政府考慮，決定將它列為香港三級歷史建築，並予以活化，至於利東街，就沒有那麼幸運了。
(有關更多關於利東街的故事，請看我這篇文章：香港隨拍 (43) – 囍帖街，一個重建騙局)。

Side view of 186-190 Queen’s Road East after revitalizing
從側面看活化後的皇后大道東186-190號

The inner structure
內部環境

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Kee Wah Bakery 奇華餅家

The 186-190 Queen’s Road East after revitalizing is rented by Kee Wah Bakery, a bakery store of HK traditional Chinese bakery, as its flagship store.

Kee Wah was founded in 1938, which is a famous HK traditional bakery. There are now around 100 branches all over the world. Products of Kee Wah are also one of the most famous souvenirs of Hong Kong. I believe Kee Wah really matched the history of 186-200 Queen’s Road East.

活化後的皇后大道東186-190號，正式租予香港傳統餅食的奇華餅家為旗艦店。

奇華餅家始創於1938年，是香港著名的中式餅店，開業至今在全球已有100間分店，它亦是香港最著名的手信之一，我相信奇華餅家與皇后大道東186-200號的歷史價值十分相配。

Moon Cake – Most famous souvenir of Kee Wah
奇華最著名的月餅
(photo from openrice.com)

The old style package moon cake
懷舊裝月餅！
(photo from openrice.com)

And of course egg tart!
當然還有蛋撻
(photo from openrice.com)

To match the historical value of 186-190 Queen’s Road East, Kee Wah decorated its flagship store as a retrospective store. We can see the description of the history and also the old photos of Kee Wah. There are also two miniature models with scale of 1:12 and 1:43. One is the first store of Kee Wah. Another one is the Kee Wah store at Shanghai Street during mid-autumn festival in 1950s.

奇華餅家為了配合皇后大道東186-190號的歷史味道，亦把旗艦店打造成懷舊特式店，店內除了有奇華餅家的歷史介紹和珍貴圖片，還有兩個分別1:12及1:43比例的微型藝術模型，其一是奇華餅家的第一家店舖，另一個則是奇華在50份代上海街，中秋期間的特色情景。

View of Kee Wah bakery
奇華的內貌

Miniature Model of the 1st store Kee Wah Bakery (scale 1:12)
奇華第一家店的微縮模型 (比例1:12)
(1st photo from openrice.com, 2nd photo from Kee Wah official website)

another model of Kee Wah store in 1950s (scale 1:43)
奇華在50年代上海街旳模型 (比例 1:43)
(1st photo from openrice.com, 2nd photo from Kee Wah official website)

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The 2nd floor is Kee Wah Tearoom in the decoration of HK tearoom style in the 1920s-30s. It provides various of HK style foods from dishes to bakery.

至於二樓，則被打造成奇華茶室，模仿香港1920-30年代的西式茶座風格，更提供多種由正餐到小食的經典香港食品，標具懷舊味道。

Interior of Kee Wah Teeroom
奇華茶室的內部
(Photo from openrice.com)

Palmier - HK Classic pastry
香港經典小食蝴蝶酥
(photo from openrice.com)

This is swiss wing and shrimp toast!
瑞士雞翼，還有蝦多士！
(photo from openrice.com)

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The 3rd floor is Kee Wah Studio. It provides workshops letting customers to experience the making of HK traditional Chinese pastry, like the Winter Melon Pastry, Pineapple Bun and Egg Tart.

而三樓則是奇華工作坊，定期開辦製作香港小食如老婆餅、菠蘿包等的工作坊，讓香港市民以至外國遊客都有機會體驗這種香港的小食文化，小食特色。

experience the making of winter melon pastry
一嘗親手製作老婆餅！
(photo from official website of Kee Wah Studio)

and also making of pineapple bun
還有菠蘿包！
(photo from official website of Kee Wah Studio)

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For me, 186-190 Queen’s Road East is a successful project. It conserves the building value and historical value of the old buildings. And Kee Wah gives it a new community and cultural value. As a local growing up in HK, I am also attracted by the tearoom and workshops. I believe you will be attracted also. The same words, don’t miss it!

在我而言，皇后大道東186-190號是一個頗成功的計劃，它成功的保留了原建築的建築價值及歷史價值，配合奇華餅家後提供了新的社區及文化價值。老實說，奇華茶室及工作坊對我這一位香港人，也很有吸引力，我相信你們也會被其吸引，都是那句，不要錯過。

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186-190 Queen’s Road East and Kee Wah Bakery 皇后大道東186-190號及奇華餅家

Address: 186-190 Queen’s Road East, Wai Chai, Hong Kong Island
Opening Hour: 9am – 930pm

地址: 香港島灣仔皇后大道東186-190號
營業時間: 早上9時至晚上9時30分

!steemitworldmap 22.2757015 lat 114.1710043 long d3scr

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謝謝你能抽空閱讀這篇文章，我平日喜歡分享香港的故事，希望大家多多支持，我會繼續努力！

Thanks for spending your time to read my articles. I like to share stories of Hong Kong. I wish you may support me and I will keep going!

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