Messrs Lane, Crawford & Co

Bustling Business Centre - Queen's Road & D'Aguilar Street, Victoria City of Hong Kong, ca1875-2015 | Nos, 31 & 33 Queen's Road  陸海通大厦、萬邦行 - 前世今生

The portal as seen in the right side was property, even highly probably then auction house, of Messrs Lane, Crawford & Co (連卡佛), a ship chandler & auctioneer established in Hong Kong since 1850s. This was the inland side of the harbour fronted marine land lot. The building would be demolished in the late 19th or early 20th. The new development was Lock Hing Hong (洛興行 ca1890s? - 1960s) which housed department stores for luxury goods. That was the predecessor of today's Melbourne Plaza (萬邦行 since 1970).

Building behind the portal, then No, 29, was where the law firm of William Henry Brereton QC (Dublin 1824 - 1887) located at. In 1880, the firm was joined by Victor Hobart Deacon and became known as Messrs Brereton, Wootton and Deacon, the predecessor of today's famous firm the Deacons (的近律師行 or still pronounced as 的勤使 by locals decades ago). Opposite was the Victoria Exchange, the Hong Kong office of Messrs Sayles & Co (些喱 ca1868-1884).

Note the building next to Messrs Lane, Crawford & Co. with plain facade as seen, there was once an enclosed balcony, a wooden extension, erected in the late 1860s. The building would be demolished in early 1920s. The new development would be the frist generation of the Queen's Theartre (皇后戲院 1924-58), and today's the LHT Tower (陸海通大厦 since 2011).

(by Crumbtracker, old photo courtesy: Hong Kong Public Library)