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Urban Marginality in Hong
Kong’s Global Diaspora

Hee Sun Choi

 Urban Marginality in Hong Kong’s
Global Diaspora

“...an insightful documentation of urban lives in Hong Kong full of useful

information for those of us who explore a city with a view of urban design, social
marginalization, and activated streetscape.”
—Saehoon Kim, Associate Professor of Urban Studies and Design,
Seoul National University Graduate School of Environmental Studies

“A terrific examination of the vibrant underbelly of Hong Kong life that provides
for the often-ignored, marginalised fragments that are essential to the urban whole.”
—Austin Williams, Director, Future Cities Project, Architecture Review
Journalist, and author of “China Urban Revolution”

“This book presents a well-researched and personally informed study of an increas-

ingly significant but neglected urban phenomenon: the ‘city without ground’, as
Kenneth Frampton has called it. It provides a fascinating and multi-dimensional
account of Hong Kong as an example of the ‘groundless city’ and should be essen-
tial reading for anyone with an interest in contemporary and emerging urbanism.”
—Dr Alan Reeve, Reader in Planning and Urban Design,
Oxford Brookes University

“The book could not have been more timely. It examines the way in which public
open spaces are colonised by Foreign Domestic Helpers (FDH) on their day of rest
in Hong Kong, utilising a variety of spaces for socialising, relaxing and being part
of the dense, modern and prosperous city. These spaces offer a sense of comfort,
security and sociability to the community ‘on the margins’. This is in contrast to the
image of the city often portrayed for its global and glossy architecture, the so called
the ‘sphynx in the sky’ image, linked to a very modern vertical urbanism solutions,
whereby spaces are defined as underground, ground and elevated levels.
The book is a very successful piece of work linking some of the leading theories on
‘the right’ to the city, place making and place-identity. The book also utilizes a very
unique methodology applied in the field utilising IT, observational and participa-
tory tools.
The key value is in discovering how the communities on the margins and ordinary
residents of Hong Kong share these unusual social geographies of space, and when
they do come together through a participatory art exercise of drawing their imagi-
nary townscapes, become part of the same community of users.
The book will be of interest to all those concerned with contemporary urbanism,
designers, but also scholars and students of social urban geographies of space.”
—Georgia Butina Watson, Professor of Urban Design,
Oxford Brookes University, UK

“It’s a longstanding fact that healthy, happy populations are more productive and
reduce the massive costs of healthcare and social services. There is a gradual dawn-
ing of realisation amongst policy makers that the basic financial aspects of develop-
ment have traditionally steamrollered the social and environmental elements and
that the true costs of industrialisation and urbanisation have been hidden through
much of the developed world. The real costs to society of this blind faith in simple
rather than holistic economics are now, for the first time, being considered and
accounted. Yet understanding social cost is a complex issue.
The built environment has a huge influence on how people act out their daily lives,
more-so even than the influence of other people. In the past, Planners and
Architects have noticeable failed to adequately address the social and environmen-
tal influences of their directives. Globally soaring income inequality, displaced
populations and accelerating environmental destruction continue to drive social
exclusion of vast numbers of populations where people not directly contributing
to standard economic data become invisible, no longer seeming to really exist and
are invisible to the planning process.
City growth has been obtained at a substantial price, and one that generally falls
most heavily on the poorest and most vulnerable in society; those who are gener-
ally unable to benefit from development improvements themselves. They often
suffer from the effects of other’s conveniences, with negative impacts that restrict
their own freedoms; air and noise pollution; community severance and the loss of
social cohesion. This book looks importantly at one type of under-represented but
large and important urban community and how these residents are improvising,
adapting and utilising the city’s inadequate places and spaces to create new forms
of placemaking, social interaction and urban economics.”
—Barry Wilson, October 2018, Director of Hong Kong Initiatives,
Vice-president of Hong Kong Institute of Urban Design
 Hee Sun Choi

Urban Marginality
in Hong Kong’s
Global Diaspora
Hee Sun Choi
University of Hong Kong
Hong Kong, Hong Kong

ISBN 978-3-030-04641-5    ISBN 978-3-030-04642-2 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04642-2

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018966710

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer
Nature Switzerland AG 2019
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the
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translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on
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known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are
exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information
in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the
publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to
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This Palgrave Pivot imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature
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The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
 Contents

1 New Spaces of Urban Marginality Within the Global

Diaspora of Hong Kong: Introduction  1

2 The Quality of Life for the Urban Marginality in Hong

Kong 19

3 Can the Social Life of Small Urban Spaces Benefit the

Urban Marginalities? 45

4 Sense of Place and Sense of Self: Place Identity and Body

Politics on the Pavements of Hong Kong 73

5 The Tangible and Intangible Challenges in Linking the

Marginal with the Central: ‘All Together for a Street
Event’127

6 Conclusion145

Index153

v
 List of Figures

Fig. 1.1 Shophouse typology with commercial units at ground floor

and residential accommodation above. (Source: Author) 3
Fig. 1.2 Cross section through the International Finance Centre
development. (Source: Author) 4
Fig. 1.3 A room layout of less than 3 square metres for FDH use in an
average Hong Kong apartment. (Source: Author) 6
Fig. 1.4 FDHs’ informal gathering space on roadway with temporary
closure in Central District. (Source: Author) 7
Fig. 1.5 FDHs’ informal gathering in Victoria Park, creating a specific
cultural landscape. (Source: Author) 8
Fig. 1.6 Spatial usage of Chater Road. On the left is a special event for
an FDH gathering during temporary Sunday road closure.
On the right shows the activity on a typical weekday. (Source:
Author)8
Fig. 1.7 FDHs’ gathering places within public space between the
Central and Admiralty Districts. (Source: Author) 9
Fig. 1.8 FDHs’ gatherings below public footbridges in Central
District. (Source: Author) 9
Fig. 1.9 Trade and usage of cardboard by FDHs for seating and
enclosure along public walkways in Central District. (Source:
Author)10
Fig. 1.10 Trade and usage of cardboard by FDHs; the journey of the
cardboard. (Source: Author) 10
Fig. 1.11 Public toilet displaying ‘no helpers, cleaners’ signage.
(Source: Author) 11
Fig. 1.12 Sai Yeung Choi Street signage in Mong Kok, showing the
vibrancy and variety of street life. (Source: Author) 12

vii
viii List of Figures

Fig. 1.13 FDH gathering and pedestrian flow analysis from September
2016 to July 2017 within the Central District of Hong Kong,
with data collection using Space Syntax. (Source: Author) 13
Fig. 1.14 Location map for four main research sites discussed in Chap. 2.
(Source: Author) 14
Fig. 1.15 Location map for two main research sites discussed in Chap. 3.
(Source: Author) 15
Fig. 1.16 Location map for four main research sites discussed in Chap. 4.
(Source: Author) 16
Fig. 2.1 Green Umbrella installation, showing its function and form,
including climate and temperature sensors. (Source: Author) 24
Fig. 2.2 Formal and informal public spaces and walkway linkage
between the Central and Wan Chai Districts of Hong Kong.
(Source: Author) 25
Fig. 2.3 Heat radiation analysis. (Source: Author) 27
Fig. 2.4 Heat radiation analysis of Gloucester Road Garden and
surroundings. (Source: Author) 28
Fig. 2.5 Heat radiation analysis of Victoria Park and surroundings.
(Source: Author) 28
Fig. 2.6 Heat radiation analysis of Chater Road and surroundings.
(Source: Author) 29
Fig. 2.7 Wind rose analysis in Chater Road, September 2016. (Source:
Author)30
Fig. 2.8 Wind rose analysis in Wan Chai, September 2016. (Source:
Author)30
Fig. 2.9 Wind rose analysis in Causeway Bay, September 2016.
(Source: Author) 31
Fig. 2.10 Sun-path analysis in Chater Road, September 2016. (Source:
Author)31
Fig. 2.11 Sun-path analysis in Wan Chai, September 2016. (Source:
Author)32
Fig. 2.12 Sun-path analysis in Causeway Bay, September 2016. (Source:
Author)32
Fig. 2.13 Urban microclimate analysis in Chater Road, September
2016. (Source: Author) 33
Fig. 2.14 Urban microclimate analysis in Wan Chai, September 2016.
(Source: Author) 34
Fig. 2.15 Urban microclimate analysis in Causeway Bay, September
2016. (Source: Author) 34
Fig. 2.16 Visualization of Green Umbrella installation and usage within
Victoria Park. (Source: Author) 37
Fig. 2.17a Design proposal for Green Umbrella installation. (Source:
Author)38
 List of Figures  ix

Fig. 2.17b Design proposal for Green Umbrella installation and its
potential impact on the streetscape of Central District.
(Source: Author) 39
Fig. 2.17c Design proposal for Green Umbrella installation and its
potential impact on public space and landscaped area.
(Source: Author) 40
Fig. 3.1 Walkway and bridge usage, together with gathering points for
FDHs on Sundays; GIS data. (Source: Author) 48
Fig. 3.2 Pedestrian walkability and accessibility of the pavements in
Wan Chai. (Source: Author) 49
Fig. 3.3 Urban Network Analysis (UNA) assessment of open space,
public transport and mobility. (Source: Author) 53
Fig. 3.4 UNA assessment of public transportation and open space in
relation to betweenness and closeness. (Source: Author) 54
Fig. 3.5 UNA assessment of residential neighbourhood to open space
in relation to betweenness and closeness. (Source: Author) 55
Fig. 3.6 Walkability and accessibility between public transport and
public space. (Source: Author) 56
Fig. 3.7 Tramway network on Hong Kong Island. (Source: Author) 56
Fig. 3.8 Hopewell Garden location and transportation system; GIS
data. (Source: Author) 58
Fig. 3.9 Interviews with different users. (Source: Author, 2017) 59
Fig. 3.10 Elevated walkway from Wan Chai MTR station to Hopewell
Centre. (Source: Author) 61
Fig. 3.11 Privately owned ‘public space’ between Hopewell Centre and
Wu Chung House. (Source: Author) 62
Fig. 3.12 Layered accessibility through the privately owned public
space adjacent to Hopewell Centre. (Source: Author) 62
Fig. 3.13 Sam Pan Street location and transportation system; GIS data.
(Source: Author) 63
Fig. 3.14 Elevated walkway from Wan Chai MTR station towards Sam
Pan Street and the FDHs’ local church. (Source: Author,
2018)65
Fig. 3.15 Sam Pan Street pocket park street layout. (Source: Author,
2018)66
Fig. 3.16 Sam Pan Street pocket park accessibility and usage by FDHs.
(Source: Author, 2018) 66
Fig. 3.17 Interviews with different users. (Source: Author, 2018) 67
Fig. 4.1a HSBC building public square with FDH gatherings, after the
2012 renovation. (Source: Author) 76
Fig. 4.1b HSBC building public square with FDH gatherings, prior to
2012 renovation. (Source: Author) 76
x List of Figures

Fig. 4.2 A map showing the four case study areas. (Source: Author
2018)77
Fig. 4.3 FDHs’ footpath and flows assessed using a 10 m2 grid.
(Source: Author, 2017, based on William Whyte’s research
methods)78
Fig. 4.4 Memorial service for Japanese troops held at the former
cricket club on Chater Road, December 1941. (Source:
South China Morning Post) 80
Fig. 4.5 The designer of the second stage of Chater Garden. (Source:
South China Morning Post, December, 1983) 81
Fig. 4.6 Land use along Chater Road. (Source: Author) 82
Fig. 4.7 Users’ flow and density along Chater Road. (Source: Author) 82
Fig. 4.8 Green spaces along Chater Road. (Source: Author) 83
Fig. 4.9 Location and quantity of public seats along Chater Road.
(Source: Author) 83
Fig. 4.10 Location of FDHs’ activities along Chater Road. (Source:
Author)84
Fig. 4.11 Informal and formal FDH gathering spaces along Chater
Road. (Source: Author) 84
Fig. 4.12 Walkaway and walkability along Chater Road. (Source:
Author)85
Fig. 4.13 Transportation network along Chater Road. (Source: Author) 85
Fig. 4.14 Summary of FDHs’ activities around the study area. (Source:
Author)86
Fig. 4.15a GIS_human flows and density in Central. (Source: Author) 87
Fig. 4.15b GIS_human flows and density along Chater Road. (Source:
Author)88
Fig. 4.16 FDHs’ specific behaviours in relation to the surrounding built
form. (Source: Author) 89
Fig. 4.17 Social and environmental life cycle via consumption and
recycling of cardboard used by FDHs. (Source: Author) 90
Fig. 4.18 Worldwide House’s exterior viewed from Des Voeux Road.
(Source: Author) 91
Fig. 4.19 Interior view of Worldwide House. (Source: Author) 92
Fig. 4.20 Interior usage of Worldwide House and surrounding
buildings. (Source: Author) 93
Fig. 4.21 Users’ flow and pedestrian density surrounding Worldwide
House. (Source: Author) 94
Fig. 4.22 Green spaces near Worldwide House on Des Voeux Road.
(Source: Author) 94
Fig. 4.23 Area and quantity of public seating surrounding Worldwide
House. (Source: Author) 95
 List of Figures  xi

Fig. 4.24 Location of FDHs’ actual gathering areas within and

surrounding Worldwide House. (Source: Author) 95
Fig. 4.25 Location of FDHs’ formal and informal gathering areas
within and surrounding Worldwide House. (Source: Author) 96
Fig. 4.26 Walkability on streets surrounding Worldwide House.
(Source: Author) 96
Fig. 4.27 Transportation network surrounding Worldwide House.
(Source: Author) 97
Fig. 4.28 Summary of FDHs’ activities surrounding Worldwide House.
(Source: Author) 98
Fig. 4.29a GIS; human flows and density in Central. (Source: Author) 99
Fig. 4.29b GIS; human flows and density surrounding Worldwide
House. (Source: Author) 100
Fig. 4.30a Density of human flows at street level surrounding Worldwide
House. (Source: Author) 101
Fig. 4.30b Density of human flows at elevated walkway level
surrounding Worldwide House. (Source: Author) 102
Fig. 4.31 Site map showing pedestrian bridges crossing Gloucester
Road leading to Wan Chai MTR station. (Source: Author) 103
Fig. 4.32 Management guidelines and signage within Gloucester Road
Garden. (Source: Author) 105
Fig. 4.33 Gloucester Road Garden seating and landscape features.
(Source: Author) 106
Fig. 4.34 Land use along Gloucester Road. (Source: Author) 107
Fig. 4.35 Pedestrian flow and density along Gloucester Road. (Source:
Author)107
Fig. 4.36 Green spaces along Gloucester Road 108
Fig. 4.37 Location and quantity of public seats along Gloucester Road.
(Source: Author) 108
Fig. 4.38 Location of FDHs’ actual gathering areas within and
surrounding Gloucester Road Garden. (Source: Author) 109
Fig. 4.39 Location of FDHs’ formal and informal gathering areas
within and surrounding Gloucester Road Garden. (Source:
Author)109
Fig. 4.40 Walkability on streets surrounding Gloucester Road Garden.
(Source: Author) 110
Fig. 4.41 Transportation network surrounding Gloucester Road
Garden. (Source: Author) 110
Fig. 4.42 Summary of FDHs’ activities surrounding Gloucester Road
Garden. (Source: Author) 111
Fig. 4.43 GIS; human flows and density surrounding Gloucester Road
Garden. (Source: Author) 112
xii List of Figures

Fig. 4.44 Density of FDHs’ gatherings at street level surrounding

Gloucester Road Garden. (Source: Author) 113
Fig. 4.45 Site map showing the location of Victoria Park. (Source:
Author)114
Fig. 4.46 Public facilities within Victoria Park. (Source: Author) 114
Fig. 4.47 FDHs’ activities within and surrounding Victoria Park.
(Source: Author) 115
Fig. 4.48 Land use around Victoria Park. (Source: Author) 116
Fig. 4.49 Pedestrian flow and density surrounding Victoria Park.
(Source: Author) 116
Fig. 4.50 Green spaces within and surrounding Victoria Park. (Source:
Author)117
Fig. 4.51 Location and quantity of public seats within and surrounding
Victoria Park. (Source: Author) 117
Fig. 4.52 Location of FDHs’ actual gathering areas within and
surrounding Victoria Park. (Source: Author) 118
Fig. 4.53 Location of FDHs’ formal and informal gathering areas
within and surrounding Victoria Park. (Source: Author) 118
Fig. 4.54 Walkability within and surrounding Victoria Park. (Source:
Author)119
Fig. 4.55 Transportation network linkage to Victoria Park. (Source:
Author)119
Fig. 4.56 Summary of FDHs’ activities within and surrounding Victoria
Park. (Source: Author) 120
Fig. 4.57 GIS; human flows and density within and surrounding
Victoria Park. (Source: Author) 121
Fig. 4.58 Density of FDHs’ gatherings at street level within and
surrounding Victoria Park. (Source: Author) 122
Fig. 5.1 Invitation poster for the street event ‘Drawing the Street We
Share’. (Source: Author) 132
Fig. 5.2 Participation in the street event. (Source: Author) 132
Fig. 5.3 The different key actor groups’ involvement in the street
event. (Source: Author) 133
Fig. 5.4 Roadside discussion during the street event, set against a
backdrop of luxury retail. (Source: Author) 133
Fig. 5.5 FDHs’ engagement in the street event. (Source: Author) 135
Fig. 5.6 Local musicians’ performance at the street event. (Source:
Author)135
Fig. 5.7 Local residents’ participation. (Source: Author) 136
Fig. 5.8 Local artists and academics participate in the street event.
(Source: Author) 136
Fig. 5.9 Drawing the Street We Share. (Source: Author) 137
 List of Figures  xiii

Fig. 5.10 FDHs and local residents share the street event. (Source:
Author)138
Fig. 5.11 Street sculpture to attract people to gather. (Source: Author) 139
Fig. 5.12 Fifteen-­metre-­long paper and sculpture on the street.
(Source: Author) 140
Fig. 5.13 Engagement from a range of key actor groups in the street
event. (Source: Author) 141
Fig. 5.14 The street event alongside FDHs’ street gathering with their
own tents. (Source: Author) 142
Fig. 5.15 FDHs participate in the street event. (Source: Author) 142
Fig. 5.16 FDHs’ tents, the street event and passers-by on Chater Road
between Cartier and Prada luxury retail stores. (Source:
Author)143
 CHAPTER 1

New Spaces of Urban Marginality Within

the Global Diaspora of Hong Kong:
Introduction

Abstract This chapter examines the spatial structure of social division in Hong
Kong and stresses the impact of the urban marginalities on both the social and
physical aspects of the urban environment in Hong Kong. This gives an evolv-
ing meaning for cultural landscape and provides a new social map of people
and place within the context of the physical built form in Hong Kong.

Keywords Urban marginality • Healthy city • Accessibility of public

space • Sense of place • Informal and formal public space

Introduction
Hong Kong has developed into an extremely dense living condition within
which to work and live. As a global financial hub, multinational banks and
corporate institutions, together with the elite of the retail and commercial
world, invest huge sums in siting and creating headquarters for themselves
here. These buildings are in many cases co-joined via elevated walkways to
transport interchanges, large residential complexes and hotels, leading
some to observe that the resulting urban condition is effectively a ‘city
without ground’ (Frampton et al. 2012). Although the ground in ques-
tion is still there, it has clearly become compromised, disconnected and
marginalized by the insertion of these vast networks of finance, consump-
tion and fluffy towels. This street and public space network is made use of
by social groups who themselves are disconnected and marginalized from

© The Author(s) 2019 1

H. S. Choi, Urban Marginality in Hong Kong’s Global Diaspora,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04642-2_1
2 H. S. CHOI

all this wealth and luxury. This book depicts a view from both of these
marginalities, the spatial and the social, to understand how the character
of these urban spaces and the identities of the social groups in occupation
is, and could be, operationalized in urban form.
This chapter comprises three parts. The first part uses Abel’s theory
(1997) to review the development of the spatial structure of Hong Kong.
This review can help to understand how the evolution in urban form of
Hong Kong, and how it is utilized, has been influenced by both the design
ideology of globalization and the local socio-cultural context of the city.
The second part examines how significant and collective gatherings of cer-
tain social groups within public space contributes to the social, cultural
and economic character of Hong Kong and how this might be interpreted
as a new form of cultural landscape. Finally, the third part of the chapter
stresses the impact of this urban marginality on both the social and physi-
cal aspects of the urban environment in Hong Kong, giving an evolving
meaning for this ‘cultural landscape’ and providing a new social map of the
people and places of Hong Kong.

Spatial Structure in Hong Kong

The tension between globalism and locality was highlighted by Abel (1997:
201) with a new design ideology in which the local informs the global and
the global the local. Abel’s term definitions ‘traditional culture’ and ‘colo-
nial culture’ stand in contrast to the culture of global homogeneity that
continues to be a characteristic of the contemporary city, advocating for
different typologies in built form to be applied to different forms of eco-
nomic and cultural development. This evolution in typological characteris-
tics can acknowledge the multilayered cultural diversity that exists in the
city and represents a significant change that can provide a new definition to
place identity, including both rootedness and evolution in urban form.
Hong Kong has its own characteristics of built form informed by its
history, its scale and its population density. Irregularities of street orienta-
tion, block size, building types and pedestrian circulation, informed by the
varied topography of the island city, provide a particular character and
richness, as do the large-scale transit-orientated development complexes
that have been introduced since the latter part of the twentieth century.
In the earlier part of the twentieth century the most common building
typology on Hong Kong Island was the three- to six-storey shophouse, a
building type introduced in colonial cities across Southeast Asia in the late
 NEW SPACES OF URBAN MARGINALITY WITHIN THE GLOBAL DIASPORA… 3

Fig. 1.1 Shophouse typology with commercial units at ground floor and resi-
dential accommodation above. (Source: Author)

nineteenth century. Fast forward a hundred years and whilst a small

­proportion of these shophouses and the urban terrain they sat on have
been retained, the city has generally shot skywards, and outwards, with
rows of shophouses now supplanted by podium blocks upon which a vast
array of tower blocks sit, and the coves and natural harbours that formed
the island’s northern coastline built out with new developments and high-
ways on reclaimed land (Figs. 1.1 and 1.2).

Social and Cultural Changes

From 1965 to 1989 Hong Kong’s economy grew ‘at an annual rate of nearly
6.5 per cent’ (Rowley and Fitzgerald 2000), with a particular demand for
workers in the service industry. As a growing proportion of family households
included both parents in work, this produced an increased demand for domes-
tic workers. In parallel with the economic growth in Hong Kong, the eco-
nomic climate in neighbouring Philippines was contracting, with a growing
rate of unemployment. In response the government put in place policies to
4 H. S. CHOI

Fig. 1.2 Cross section through the International Finance Centre development.
(Source: Author)

promote the export of the country’s labour force. In 1975 the first 1000
foreign domestic helpers (FDHs) from the Philippines were approved for
entry into Hong Kong on a domestic workers’ contract (Law 2002: 1635).
This condition of supply and demand for FDHs continues, with other
Asian countries, including Indonesia and Thailand, joining the Philippines
in adopting policies to encourage the export of their labour force. In 2017,
 NEW SPACES OF URBAN MARGINALITY WITHIN THE GLOBAL DIASPORA… 5

domestic worker contracts summed up to a total of 3,70,000 (Census and

Statistics Department Hong Kong 2018). This group of largely female
migrants, forming approximately 10% of Hong Kong’s work force, has
become a part of Hong Kong’s economy that is both integral and yet
intentionally marginalized; their right to stay in Hong Kong is sponsored
by and limited to their employer on a repeatedly temporal two-year work-
ing visa, with no possibility of achieving permanent residence.

The Evolving Definition of Public and Private Space

A further requirement of the domestic worker contract in Hong Kong is
that FDHs are legally required to live with their employer within the home
in which they work. The cost of accommodation in Hong Kong per square
foot is amongst the highest in the world, meaning that although an
employer can afford the low salary required to secure the services of an
FDH, the space offered for them to live is often very limited. Whilst there
are protections in place within the contract for the FDH to be offered a
reasonable amount of private space within the home, in practice this right
is difficult for the FDH to assert once employed. As a result a large pro-
portion of helpers live without private space, sleeping in rooms shared
with the employers’ children or elderly relatives.
One aspect of the domestic working contract that is more consistently
honoured by employers is the weekly day of rest. Typically, on Sunday,
FDHs have a day off and tend to leave the employer’s home and seek
space and the company of others on the streets and public parks of Hong
Kong. On these days this marginalized group of FDHs creates a social
space as a form of ‘cultural landscape’ and as a manifestation of an ‘ongo-
ing relationship between people and place’ (Mitchell 2000: 102) (Fig. 1.3).
Every Sunday the FDHs recreate their own culture, community and
sense of place within distinct parts of Hong Kong—with specific areas and
identifiable zones now established with distinct character, activity and cul-
tural differentiation, alongside Filipina helpers tending to gather around
Central and Indonesian helpers, choosing Causeway Bay.
An interesting by-product of these activities on Sunday is a small but
sustainable micro-economy of used cardboard sellers, utilized by FDHs as
ground covering for group gatherings and forming small upturned enclo-
sures. Through careful selection of clean cardboard of appropriate size,
and through operation of mobile market stalls traversing the areas of most
6 H. S. CHOI

Fig. 1.3 A room layout of less than 3 square metres for FDH use in an average
Hong Kong apartment. (Source: Author)
 NEW SPACES OF URBAN MARGINALITY WITHIN THE GLOBAL DIASPORA… 7

usage by domestic helpers on Sundays, the sellers hope to increase the

return on the standard price of HK$ 2 per kilo for recycled cardboard
(Figs. 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 1.7, 1.8, 1.9 and 1.10).
On any weekday and on Saturdays, these areas of public space are
used by the local communities and residents in a pattern of transit and
relaxation that may be considered typical of any urban environment.
However, on Sunday, the usage is much more particular and dynamic.
There appears to be no social interaction between the groups of FDHs
taking rest and other local residents in the neighbourhood. During the
daytime, the public space slowly becomes fully occupied by FDH
groups. This occupation continues until the late evening, at which point
the FDHs begin to leave and the cardboard traders move in with empty
trolleys to retrieve the cardboard sold earlier in the day for reselling to
recycling centres. A cleaning team from the local government also car-
ries out work to tidy the area. This all takes place with only minimal
interaction and engagement between the separate groups.

Fig. 1.4 FDHs’ informal gathering space on roadway with temporary closure in
Central District. (Source: Author)
8 H. S. CHOI

Fig. 1.5 FDHs’ informal gathering in Victoria Park, creating a specific cultural
landscape. (Source: Author)

Fig. 1.6 Spatial usage of Chater Road. On the left is a special event for an FDH
gathering during temporary Sunday road closure. On the right shows the activity
on a typical weekday. (Source: Author)

Cultural Landscape Created by Urban Marginality

in Hong Kong

Places may be viewed as constructs of unique geographic, physical and

environmental characteristics, combined with unique cultural circum-
stances and human interventions (Clifford and King 1993). Users experi-
ence place through social activities and cultural engagement, generating
 NEW SPACES OF URBAN MARGINALITY WITHIN THE GLOBAL DIASPORA… 9

Fig. 1.7 FDHs’ gathering places within public space between the Central and
Admiralty Districts. (Source: Author)

Fig. 1.8 FDHs’ gatherings below public footbridges in Central District. (Source:
Author)
10 H. S. CHOI

Fig. 1.9 Trade and usage of cardboard by FDHs for seating and enclosure along
public walkways in Central District. (Source: Author)

Fig. 1.10 Trade and usage of cardboard by FDHs; the journey of the cardboard.
(Source: Author)
 NEW SPACES OF URBAN MARGINALITY WITHIN THE GLOBAL DIASPORA… 11

distinctive experimental characteristics, and place identity is established

when these characteristics complement the physical elements of built form
within an urban development.
Each Sunday a large portion of the 3,70,000 FDHs resident in Hong
Kong join together to interweave aspects of culture and power that are
difficult to unravel without new theoretical tools. These domestic workers
temporarily disrupt their position within a hierarchy of employer/
employee social relations and in the process define new networks and links
across a range of spaces that temporarily redefine their identity (Fig. 1.11).
Put another way, a ‘social space’ emerges, a space that reflects the politi-
cal economy of labour migration and domestic work. FDHs—by virtue of
their status as live-in domestic workers—have few places in their everyday
lives to feel ‘at home’, and gathering in public space can provide relief
from working in a foreign culture. At the same time, the city itself is always
active and fluid—filled with signs and meanings that connect different
places, people and relationships at different junctures (Fig. 1.12).
In her article ‘Defying Disappearance: Cosmopolitan Public Space in
Hong Kong’ (2002), Lisa Law highlights the difficulty in defining the
quality of public space given the context of these layers of different usage

Fig. 1.11 Public toilet displaying ‘no helpers, cleaners’ signage. (Source: Author)
12 H. S. CHOI

Fig. 1.12 Sai Yeung Choi Street signage in Mong Kok, showing the vibrancy
and variety of street life. (Source: Author)

by separate groups within the urban marginality. The spatial complexity of

the city’s public space is also highlighted in Frampton’s ‘Cities Without
Ground’ (2012).
It is within this context that a spatially specific transnational cultural
landscape has taken root that raises the following questions:

1. How does this cultural landscape influence the occupation and

usage of public space in Hong Kong?
2. What are the common characteristics of the public spaces being
occupied?
3. Can the social life of small urban space benefit the urban marginalities?
4. How can we characterize the place identity created by this body
politic on the pavements of Hong Kong?
5. What can be the tangible and intangible challenges in linking the
marginal with the central?

Through theoretical and empirical analysis, this research seeks to

unpack the production of these new cultural landscapes in Hong Kong
through a better understanding of the institutions and other key actors
involved and by observing and analysing the patterns of usage of the urban
marginalities involved.
 NEW SPACES OF URBAN MARGINALITY WITHIN THE GLOBAL DIASPORA… 13

Research Methodology
This book focuses specifically on the elevated and subterranean walkway
systems in the city that are purposefully distinct from the ground plane.
Frampton et al. (2012) describe how Hong Kong enhances this three-
dimensional (3D) connectivity to such a degree that a reference to the
ground altogether can be eliminated: ‘Hong Kong is a city without
ground’ (p. 6).
Taking a more spatial and specifically urban approach to Law’s study,
this book uses empirical evidence, based on observation studies carried
out over a 10-month period from September 2016 to July 2017.
Visualization and advanced mapping techniques have been used to dem-
onstrate the impact of the periodic usage of public space by FDHs across
the central area of the city, from Sheung Wan in the west across to Tin
Hau in the east (Fig. 1.13).

Fig. 1.13 FDH gathering and pedestrian flow analysis from September 2016 to
July 2017 within the Central District of Hong Kong, with data collection using
Space Syntax. (Source: Author)
14 H. S. CHOI

This data analysis was done using AutoCAD 2D and Rhino 3D, geo-
graphical information system (GIS) and UNA (Urban Network Analysis)
to produce time-based visualizations of data showing patterns of occupa-
tion over this 10-month period.
The case studies include four main sites on Hong Kong Island between
Sheung Wan in the west across to Tin Hau in the east: (1) Chater Road
and Worldwide House in Central, (2) a public space in front of the
Immigration Tower in Wan Chai, (3) a series of pocket parks close to com-
mercial and civic amenities in Wan Chai, and (4) Victoria Park and adja-
cent streets in Causeway Bay (Figs. 1.14, 1.15 and 1.16).
Three-dimensional mappings and diagrams describe the FDHs’ occu-
pation of the selected public spaces. Together with visualized data, this
research also conducted interviews with FDHs, together with other rele-
vant participants such as non-governmental organisations (NGOs), busi-
ness owners, professionals and employers. To understand the evolution
and history of these spaces, secondary sources, including newspaper arti-
cles, published literature and, in some cases, Internet blogs, forums and
discussions, were used to draw conclusions on the dynamics of the space
prior to and during the time of observation.

Discussion
In 1997 Hong Kong became a part of the People’s Republic of China.
The transfer of Hong Kong’s sovereignty from Great Britain to China is
an extraordinary legislative shift that has influenced in an evolving way the

Fig. 1.14 Location map for four main research sites discussed in Chap. 2.
(Source: Author)
 NEW SPACES OF URBAN MARGINALITY WITHIN THE GLOBAL DIASPORA… 15

Fig. 1.15 Location map for two main research sites discussed in Chap. 3. (Source:
Author)
16 H. S. CHOI

Fig. 1.16 Location map for four main research sites discussed in Chap. 4.
(Source: Author)

nature of the city’s cosmopolitan capitalism and migration patterns. Lee

and Wong (2004) observed Hong Kong as a city ‘reinforced by the neo-
liberal policies adopted by the advanced capitalist states which relax their
borders and encourages the transnational flows of people’. The labour
market of the city tends to have employment practices and a weak union
structure that favours the employer and a strong economy with an inter-
national reach that encourages large-scale immigration and a tendency
towards social and occupational polarization.
A growing population of FDHs and other urban marginalities are the
result of this.
The distinguishable cultural landscape produced by this urban marginal-
ity at the street level has become as much a part of the city as the eye-­
catching monuments of finance above. Once the qualities of this street-level
and marginal inhabitation are characterized, what can be learnt about both
of these localized and globalized worlds? What patterns does this identify for
how these social and environmental aspects may influence the evolution and
development of the city in the near future? Where will the city go from here?
With an ever-receding and marginalized ground place, Hong Kong has
connectivity. On the north shore of Hong Kong Island, it is possible to
walk across three urban districts, from Sheung Wan to Central to Wan
Chai, without ever having to leave a continuous network of elevated or
underground pedestrian passageways and interconnected malls and office
lobbies. This infrastructural network, including staircases of less than a
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
 Section of Bunker Hill Monument
Reproduced from Solomon Willard, Plans and
Sections of the Obelisk on Bunker’s Hill
(Boston, 1843), Plate V
As described in the Baldwin Report, the circular winding
staircase is composed of granite steps, starting with a width of about
four feet and narrowing as the ascent is made. Baldwin called for
“places of repose” (landings) at intervals. Modern architects call the
part around which a circular staircase winds, the “newel.” Baldwin’s
newel is a hallow wall, 10 feet in diameter at the base, about two feet
thick.
Thus, the monument was designed by an engineer, not an
architect. Baldwin violated a common rule for the proportions of
ancient Egyptian obelisks, that the pyramidion should be as high as
the base is wide, which is one reason why the Washington
Monument is so beautiful. One regrets that architect Willard, who
picked up where Baldwin left off, did not see fit to modify the Baldwin
lines. There seems never to have been any question as to the
monument’s material: granite, the native New England stone.
Although we admire the Bunker Hill Monument for its somber
strength, it cannot be called a structure of beauty, as is the lighter-
tinted and finer-textured marble Washington Monument, with its
sharper apex.
We can also speculate on why Baldwin made the monument
wholly of granite. At today’s prices, the circular inner surface of the
shaft and the circular chimney, or newel, around which the stone
staircase winds, would be of tremendous cost. The dressing of the
stone for a square inner area would be much cheaper.
Before criticizing Baldwin on his ponderous stair design, which
could be replaced by a light, modern fire escape, we should look at
the status of the tiny American iron industry of his day. The
ironmasters were recovering from the decline of activity in the War of
1812, during which they had lost their British market. Baldwin would
know that certain early railroad promoters estimated that granite
tracks mounted with iron plates would be less expensive than the
English-rolled rails, which the Americans could not produce. With
masons in Massachusetts receiving about $0.18 an hour, granite
was considered cheaper than iron. Baldwin therefore designed his
stairway of granite, with a massive granite chimney “newel” to
support the inner ends of the treads. Long before the monument was
completed, however, a square staircase of either cast iron or
wrought iron could have been produced, economically, by American
ironmasters. It was then too late to make the change, however.
At about the time of the completion of the monument the first
mechanical elevator was exhibited, but there was no room for an
elevator at Bunker Hill—the newel was in the way. To climb a few
score steps would be an easy task to our sturdy forebears, and to
say that one has “climbed the Bunker Hill Monument” is a boast that
hundreds of thousands of tourists to Boston have been proud to
make for over 100 years. Baldwin may have been right again, as he
usually was.
Baldwin specified that the monument should be square with the
compass, a common Egyptian practice. As built, however, it is
oriented to fit the redoubt (southeast corner) of the battle fortification.
Structurally, Baldwin designed a sound foundation, 12 feet deep,
built of six courses of stone with no small rubble that might
deteriorate through the years. He specified that the starting level of
the base of the monument should be established at the best
elevation to avoid an uneconomical distribution of the excavated
earth; today we would say that he balanced cut and fill.
The modern building contractor finds the estimate that went with
the report both practical and quaint. He will find that the digging of
the pit for the foundation of the monument was figured in “squares,”
at $2.00 each; and since a square meant eight cubic yards, hand
excavation was therefore priced at $0.25 per cubic yard. This price
must have included the expense of shoring; also the pumping that
such a deep pit would require. Baldwin proposed to dig a deep well
on the site (today called a test pit), which would not only indicate the
adequacy of the soil, but would also furnish water for construction
purposes. Much water would be needed to mix the lime and sand
mortar for the monument as well as for the Roman cement, for which
5
the estimated 100 casks were figured at $7.00 each.

5
“The use of natural cement was introduced
by Mr. Parker, who first discovered the properties
 of the cement-stone in the Isle of Sheppy, and
took out a patent for the sale of it in 1796, under
the name of ‘Roman Cement.’”—Edward
Dobson, Rudiments of the Art of Building
(London: John Weale, 1854).

Masonry was then estimated in “perches,” and by a little

arithmetic, the modern contractor will learn that a perch was then
equal to 25 cubic feet, or nearly a cubic yard. The 784 perches of
masonry for the foundation were priced at $10 per perch, including
“stones, hammering, mortar, laying, etc.”
The report of Baldwin contains no computations on the structural
stability of the monument. If the modern structural designer wishes to
investigate how near the safe limit the monument has been tested by
Boston’s occasional hurricane winds, he has available the major
dimensions given in the Baldwin Report, and the drawings of
Willard’s classic Plans and Sections of the Obelisk from which to
make this simple computation.
Such computation shows that the monument is so heavy that a
hurricane wind has an almost imperceptible effect on its stability.
When it is subjected to a 100-mile-per-hour wind, the resultant force
is displaced only a fraction of a foot from the center of the 50-foot-
wide foundation. The maximum load on the soil is about five tons per
square foot—a safe bearing load on “the bed of clay and gravel
which composes the soil of the Hill” as described in an old account.
The same account speaks of “great pains having been used in
loosening the earth, and in puddling and ramming the stones.”
Surely, our construction ancestors would not have purposely
disturbed the underlying soil, in an attempt to improve upon the
natural bearing strength of one of the firmest of foundations: glacial
hardpan. Like any good builder, they were undoubtedly merely
puddling with water the earth backfill around the completed
foundation.
Baldwin knew that granite would not deteriorate when exposed
to the alternately hot and cold temperatures of Boston. Half a century
later, the engineers who transported an Egyptian obelisk (one of the
Cleopatra’s Needles) to Central Park, New York, learned that the
lovely textured syenitic granite of the Nile Valley was markedly
inferior to New England granite in weather resistance, although it
had kept its surface intact for centuries in the mild climate of Egypt.
To protect Cleopatra’s Needle in New York, a paraffin coating was
found necessary.
Baldwin soon resigned from the building committee, partly
because of the press of other work, but largely in protest against a
clause which made its members, all of whom freely donated their
services, financially responsible for the estimate. Promptly after
accepting his resignation, the directors revised this clause. In
reviewing the quaint old methods, the question arises: Would
modern estimates be more accurate if the consulting architects and
engineers had to pay for overruns?

Transient Cornerstone
On 17 June 1825, the cornerstone of the monument was laid
with impressive ceremonies. As the colorful procession marched up
Bunker Hill to the stirring rendition of “Yankee Doodle” by the
drummer of Colonel William Prescott’s regiment, who, 50 years
before, had been in the battle, the rear of the procession was just
starting from distant Boston Common. The little Boston of over a
century ago was crowded with visitors who had come from places as
remote as South Carolina by stagecoach, sailing vessel, or on foot,
to hear the great speech of Daniel Webster, President of the Bunker
Hill Monument Association, and America’s first orator of the day.
Years earlier, Chaplain Joseph Thaxter had paid the last offices to
dying soldiers in the battle; now, he invoked God’s blessing on the
young American republic, as 40 veterans of the battle sat in a place
of honor.
The most important visitor, of course, was General Lafayette,
who, as a good Mason, spread the mortar on the stone when it was
laid by Most Worshipful Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of
Massachusetts, John Abbot. As the battle’s only monument up to
this date had been erected by the Masons, it was considered
appropriate that the permanent monument should have its
cornerstone laid with the Masonic ceremony. A little later, this
procedure was sharply criticized during the Antimasonic period,
6
which occurred before the monument was finished.

6
Joseph Warren, the outstanding hero of the
battle, was Grand Master of Freemasons for
North America.

Many of the spectators knew that the cornerstone records would

later have to be moved, for the plans of the monument were hardly
started. Now, the box with its old newspapers, Continental currency,
and other data is within a stone at the monument’s northeast corner,
and the original cornerstone stands in the center of the foundation.
With his usual generosity, Daniel Webster presented the
copyright of his famous speech to the Bunker Hill Monument
Association. The copyright was sold for $600, which was the second
largest single contribution up to that date.

The Leading Character

Solomon Willard, architect and superintendent of the Bunker Hill
Monument, developed the methods for the quarrying, dressing,
transporting, and erecting the huge stones of the monument that
started granite on its way to becoming a principal material for
massive structures in America for half a century, until reinforced
concrete took over. (Today, granite is used extensively as a
protective facing for concrete, for highway curbing, and for
memorials.)
It is impressive to note the universal respect for the integrity and
ability of this early American architect which all the records of the
monument stress. In the drama of the building of the Bunker Hill
Monument, he played the leading part, and his character resembled
the sturdy structure which he designed in detail and erected. During
his 18 years of service in the construction of his masterpiece, the
Bunker Hill Monument, he would accept no recompense except for
his expenses, deeming it his duty to work without pay on such a
patriotic venture. He was also a substantial contributor to the building
fund.
A self-educated man, who had learned architecture with
sufficient thoroughness to become a teacher in the subject, he had
also become proficient in the various sciences. Starting as a
carpenter, Willard had proved both his craftsmanship and artistry by
becoming an adept carver of ships’ figureheads and models,
including a model of the Capitol at Washington.
At the time the monument was begun, Willard was one of the
leading architects of Boston. Typical of an architect’s versatility, he
had played an important part in the change from the heating of
buildings by wood-burning fireplaces and Franklin stoves, to hot-air
furnaces, using either wood or coal. As an expert in furnace heat, he
was called in for advice in the design of the heating system of
America’s most important building, when the President demanded
that the national Capitol should have adequate heat.
Appointed in October, 1825, to the combined position of architect
and superintendent, Willard spent the following winter on the plans,
models, and computations required to develop the construction
details, from the over-all dimensions of the Baldwin Report. During
these preliminary steps, Willard experimented with a promising
machine for dressing the stones. The selection of the Bunker Hill
Quarry in Quincy, Mass., was made after Willard had made a careful
search for suitable stone, in which he was said to have walked 300
miles. The right to quarry, at Quincy, sufficient granite for the
monument was purchased for $325. Part of the amount to be
provided by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts was to have been
supplied by the cost of the dressing of the stone (then called
“hammering”) by the convicts of nearby Charlestown State Prison.
The convicts, however, were obviously not sufficiently independent
to work on this shrine of independence, so this procedure was not
adopted.

Up-To-Date Quarry (Circa 1825–1843)

From various old American and English records of masonry
construction, it is possible to construct an account of how the stones
for the Bunker Hill Monument must have been quarried and dressed.
The old names are used for the tools and methods, and the modern
mason will find many of these old descriptions quite familiar.
The hornblende granite of the Quincy region was (and is) of very
uniform texture and varies only in color, from gray to dark gray. In
Quincy, Willard would find that both “sheet” and “boulder” quarry
formations occurred: the joints in the ledge of the sheet areas
making the granite appear as if stratified, and hence more easily
removed; but the huge, rounded boulders in the other areas,
measuring up to 40 feet across, had no joints. Rows of holes were
drilled by hand (at least 25 years would elapse before practical
power-rock drills became available) and large blocks loosened from
the ledge or boulder, probably by wedges, possibly by light blasts of
gunpowder. At this stage the quarried block was called “quarry-
pitched.” Stone of the smaller size for the monument was split from
these blocks along lines of holes in which wedges were driven.
These were probably of the plug-and-feather type, in which an iron
wedge with an acute angle is fitted between two semicircular iron
feathers, which taper in the opposite direction to that of the wedge,
and thus fit the hole drilled in the stone, nicely. Granite has no
cleavage planes, like slate; but a routine of smart taps on the plugs,
back and forth along the line, soon splits the stone along a fairly
smooth face. Two lewises (an ancient device), attached at about the
quarter points of the top of the stone, were used to lift it. Three
members make the lewis: a flat center bar with an eye at the top, the
center bar being flanked by two wedge-shaped side pieces which
are thicker at the bottom of the hole, and these also have eyes at the
top. The wedges are inserted first, then the center bar slipped
between; thereafter any lifting pull on the three bars is bound to
expand the lewis to fill the hole and lift the stone, for the hole is
drilled wider at the bottom than at the top.
With Solomon Willard’s well-rendered isometric drawing of each
stone for a guide, the stonecutter dressed it, first selecting the best
face for the “bed” (bottom) and hammered it to a plane surface,
determined by shallow channels (chisel drafts) cut diagonally across
the stone.
From this surface, the stonecutter laid out the other faces,
including the “build” (top), by his good mason’s square or template.
The texture of the visible face was “tooled,” that is, the marks of the
chisel remained visible. Quincy granite is a quality product, taking a
high polish, but the builders of the Bunker Hill Monument desired no
polish on their monument. Today, the surface of the monument
shows faint, well-weathered lines, like those produced by the modern
bushhammer, which has a head made of several thin steel plates
bolted together, each sharpened to a cutting edge. In England during
the period, flat iron bars with rough edges were in use to saw softer
stone than granite, and at Quincy, Willard experimented with
dressing machines. The conclusion may be drawn, however, that the
stones which we now see on the monument were undoubtedly
shaped to their present dimensions by hand.
Today, 110 years after its capstone was put in place, the Bunker
Hill Monument stands as an impressive testimonial to the
conservative judgment of its designer, Loammi Baldwin, and the
painstaking fidelity of the man who supervised its construction,
Solomon Willard. An engineer familiar with its maintenance states
that there is no evidence of settlement, and that a check by
surveyor’s transit revealed no signs of misalignment. Its joints
occasionally need pointing, the last pointing being performed about
20 years ago. Various iron or steel members of the observation
chamber have had to be replaced. Its lightning rod has been in place
for many years, but there is no readily available record to check
whether the monument has ever been struck by lightning. With their
empirical methods of design and their crude, mostly hand-operated,
construction apparatus, our forebears built a sturdy structure, which,
barring an earthquake, should last for centuries.

The Granite Railway

On 7 October 1826, the first railroad in America started
operation. This was the horse-operated Granite Railway, built to
transport the stones for the Bunker Hill Monument from the quarry in
Quincy down to the Neponset River, a distance of nearly three miles.
The track and cars of the railroad had been designed and built by a
young engineer of 28, Gridley Bryant, whose Granite Railway project
started him on a long career of achievement in the invention of
equipment that played a major part in the rapid and successful
development of the American railroad system.
Ample precedent for the Granite Railway existed in England,
where, since the reign of Charles II, wooden tracks, sometimes
armored with iron plates, had been used as runways for coal cars
from the pits to the nearest waterway. Within five years of the start of
the Granite Railway, similar systems are recorded in the states of
Pennsylvania, South Carolina, New York, and Maryland. At first, the
motive power for these lines was supplied by gravity, stationary
engines, or horses, but soon tiny steam locomotives were tried.
Thus, in the year 1829, Peter Cooper built the famous Tom Thumb, a
successful locomotive which used rifle barrels for flues. In the same
year the Stourbridge Lion, “the first locomotive that ever turned a
7
driving wheel on a railroad on the Western Continent,” was brought
by sailing vessel from England and started operation in
Pennsylvania. The American steam railroad system was thus well
under way by the time the lower courses of the monument were
being raised.

7
Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution,
1889.

Bryant later described his railroad as having stone sleepers laid

across the track, 8 feet apart. Upon these, were placed wooden rails,
6 inches thick and 12 inches high (replaced by stone within a few
years). Spiked on top of these were iron plates, 3 inches wide by ¼
inch thick. However, at road crossings, stone rails were used, with 4-
inch by ½-inch iron plates bolted on top. This “permanent”
construction was also used on the double-track, inclined plane at the
quarry. (Well-preserved vestiges of this “permanent” construction are
visible today at the rise to the Bunker Hill Quarry.) Here, an endless
chain allowed the loaded, descending cars to pull up the empty
ascending ones.
The standard gauge of American railroads is now 4 feet, 8½
inches, measured between railheads, a standard adopted after many
years of confusion before the present gauge dimension was
adopted. Although Bryant described his track gauge as 5 feet, this
dimension was measured between the “bearing points” of the wheels
on the tracks. If the bearing points are assumed to be the center of
the treads of the wheels, his gauge is found to match closely the
present standard gauge. This track gauge agrees with that adopted
by the famous English railroad engineer, George Stephenson, at
about the same time, after he had measured scores of carts used by
his farmer neighbors. Possibly, both Stephenson and Bryant knew
that their selected gauge had a very early beginning; for some
historians suggest that the English carts were originally made to fit
the ruts cut in the roads of Britain by the Roman chariots, many
centuries earlier, during the Roman occupation of Britain.
On the day when the railroad started operation, 16 tons of
granite from the Bunker Hill Quarry, and loaded on three “wagons,”
were easily pulled by one horse, once started. Bryant’s first car had
flanged wheels, 6½ feet in diameter, from the axles of which a
platform was hung to carry the granite. This platform was lowered to
receive the load and then raised by an ingenious gearing device.
Naturally, Bryant based the design of his early railroad cars upon
the construction of the horse-drawn wagons of his day. Like the
wagons, his cars had to be flexible if they were to keep on the track
when passing over the two curves of the otherwise straight Granite
Railway. In his description of another of his cars appear the road
wagon terms—bolsters, truck, and center kingpin, to allow a
swiveling motion. Rigidly bolted to cross timbers beneath the truck
were two iron axletrees, on which revolved cast-iron wheels. (Some
time would elapse in railroad progress before the wheels would be
fixed to, and revolve with, the axles in journals.)
In early American railroad development Bryant is credited with
the invention of the eight-wheel car, the turntable, switch, turnout,
and many other improvements. In 1832, he had invented and used in
the building of the United States Bank at Boston, his portable derrick,
“used in every city and village in the country wherever there was a
stone building to erect.” Others profited from Bryant’s amazing
ingenuity. Although the Supreme Court of the United States decided
in his favor in his most important invention, the eight-wheeled car, he
8
did not collect, and he died poor.

8
For more data on the Granite Railway and
Gridley Bryant, see: Charles B. Stuart, Civil and
Military Engineers of America (New York: D. Van
Nostrand Company, Inc., 1871); and The First
Railroad in America (Boston: Privately printed for
Granite Railway Company, 1926).

In the fine saga of the Bunker Hill Monument, the Granite

Railway plays a prominent part. The demand of the monument for
granite definitely inspired Bryant to conceive the idea of America’s
first railroad, and to design pioneer equipment that contributed
hugely to the subsequent progress of America’s great railroad
system. The accurate account of the building of the monument,
however, has to record the fact that the railroad was not so great a
benefit as anticipated. In the short distance of 12 miles there was too
much loading and unloading. Willard freely expressed his annoyance
at these hindrances. That he took action is indicated in the following
quotation from an apparently authentic source: “The stone used for
the foundation and for the first forty feet of the structure (the
monument) was transported from the quarry on a railroad to the
wharf in Quincy (actually located in Milton) where it was put into flat-
bottomed boats, towed by steam-power to the wharf in Charlestown,
and then raised to the Hill by teams moving upon an inclined plane.
The repeated transfer of the stones, necessary in this mode of
conveyance, being attended with delay, liability to accident, and a
defacing of the blocks, was abandoned after the fortieth foot was
laid, and the materials were transported by teams directly from the
9
quarry to the hill.” This account fails to tell how the teams got up
and down the steep hill at the quarry: the 84-foot rise at an angle of
15 degrees. Clever Bryant must have used his endless chain to drag
the empty teams up, and to brake the loaded ones down.

9
George E. Ellis, History of the Battle of
Bunker’s (Breed’s) Hill (Boston: Lockwood,
Brooks and Company, 1875).
 Hoc nomen est in æternum, et hoc
memoriale in generationem et generationem.
© R. Ruzicka 1915

Bunker Hill Monument in 1915

Reproduced from a wood engraving by Rudolph
Ruzicka in the Boston Athenæum
 Judah Touro
Reproduced from a portrait in the Redwood
Library, Newport, R. I.
 Amos Lawrence
Reproduced from a portrait by Chester
Harding owned by the Massachusetts
Hospital Life Insurance Company
 Foundation of Bunker Hill Monument
Reproduced from Willard, Plans and Sections, Plate II
 Construction of Bunker Hill Monument
Reproduced from Willard, Plans and Sections, Plate IV
 Construction of Bunker Hill Monument
Reproduced from Willard, Plans and Sections, Plate X
 Bunker Hill Monument in 1830
Reproduced from C. H. Snow, A Geography of Boston (Boston, 1830)

Beacon for Mariners

In the noisy grogshops on the streets leading to the Boston
waterfront, in the sail lofts on what is now Commercial Street, and at
the tall desks of the counting rooms of State Street, those who got
their living from the sea eagerly discussed the progress of the
monument in Charlestown. It was to be their beacon, and when the
many frigates, packets, sloops, and schooners had safely passed
the danger spots of the lower harbor, the monument would welcome
them to the busy inner port of Boston, then much livelier than it is
today. But progress proved to be slow. Naturally the stones broken
from the Quincy ledges and boulders were not always of the
dimensions planned by Willard for the lower courses; many were of
sizes needed for the upper courses. Economical Willard dressed the