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Arthur Robert Fenton-Rayen

Introduction


Arthur Robert Fenton-Raven, first came to Hong Kong with the British Army around 1903, went back to England via the Trans-Siberian Railway, qualified as an architect and returned to the city with his wife, Viola, around 1913. Among other projects, Fenton-Raven was responsible for King Yin Lei on Stubbs Road, built in 1936-37

King Yin Lei was designed by British architect A.R. Fenton-Raven . Construction began in 1936 and was completed by 1937. It sits on a 50,650 square feet (4,706 m2) site above Happy Valley Racecourse. The compound comprises a three-storey "red bricks and green tiles" building, a private garden festooned with penjing plants, various pavilions and terraces. King Yin Lei, which is a rare surviving example of Chinese Renaissance style that reflected the design and construction excellence in both Chinese and Western architecture of Hong Kong.

Apart from King Yin Lei, the project completed by Raven were Chinese YMCA 1918, designed by Harry Hussey from Chicago; Chinese Methodist Church 1932; and S.K.H. Diocesan Welfare Council, 1952.

Raven's companies are mentioned in the Journal of the Hong Kong Institute of Architects

The Hong Kong Institute of Architects has a brief background on Raven's career as an architect:
Weaser & Raven was founded by Arthur Robert Fenton Raven (MRSanl, Authorized Architect 1905-41, HKIA 1956) and William Lionel Wreford Weaser (Authorized Architect 1905-24) before 1909, Weaser had his own practice and Raven in partnership with Oscar Boultbee Raven (Authorized Architect 1919-37) to form Raven & Raven around 1921. Later on, Raven partnered with A. H. Basto to form Raven & Basto from 1922-37. Raven and Basto separated and had their own practice from 1938 to 1941.
Source: http://www.hkia.net/en/pdf/journal/
https://www.scmp.com/
https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/景賢里
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