Eu gardens / Chan Gardens, Argyle Street [1938-????]

i spent plenty of time there in the early 70s as we had two sets of friends living there. I remember the blocks were painted green with large round stair cases in the middle of the blocks. I believe these blocks had been used as a hospital during the Japanese occupation in the 40s. I was there when the construction company came to drill and take soil samples prion to ripping the blocks down and building the flats on that site...  it was  sad as these old apartments were lovely large spacious and comfortable ... cheers. John T

Thanks for your comments.  Yes, we lived there in two different blocks from 1961 to 1964 which made access to Kowloon Junior School very easy.

The flats were, indeed, very spacious with a long balcony (certainly in the bigger flats) connecting all the bedrooms.  The master bedroom had a sunken bath in it too.  

There were marks on the parquet floor which my mother always said were from the stoves the Japanese used there when occupying the flats in the war.

Does anyone else have any photos of the flats?

Were these buildings originally known as Eu Gardens?

The 1948 Telephone directory has a couple of entries for Eu Gardens at 154 and 160 Argyle Street, which would put them at this location, so I wonder if the site was later acquired by the Chan family and renamed to Chan Gardens?

 I lived in Eu Gardens in the bottom right flat  with my Dad who was a SNCO with the RAF at Kai Tak from 1948 to 1950.

As I recall there were 4 blocks in the complex, one at each end with single  block of 3 apartments and two in the Centre each with 6 flats. The outstanding thing  I remember was the bright orange tiled entrances to the hallways .

I recall getting into serious trouble for flying kites from the top of one of the single blocks at he officers end of the complex towards  the airport as incoming aircraft flew right over Argyle st.

 I went to school at the Kowloon Junior school, which at that time was next to LaSalle collage in what was later  known as Kowloon Tong. At that time it was a mass of tents.

We used to go to the Families Club on Kia Tak most Sundays on the black/white bus 

I recall, as does my sister, one occasion when the bus was stopped by armed troops  while large numbers of troops were crossing the road and having smashed the airport fence down disappear into the airport. I  clearly the soldiers throwing Granada’s into parked aircraft as they passed them. The aircraft were DC3’s, that had the outer main planes removed. Whether or not the engines had been removed, I cannot remember.  I do however recall that it was a very terrifying experience fr all of us.

I went back to work foe Cathay Pacific in 1977  and stayed for a few years, where my 3 children also went to KJS.

 

Thanks for your sharing your memories of these buildings. The layout you describe matches the layout shown in the 1952 map.

 

Does the photo above look the same as the buildings you remember? If yes, that confirms that Eu Gardens and Chan Gardens were different names for the same buildings.

Yes, the name must have changed.  On checking the dates we lived there, the picture of me and our dog, Honey, and car, was taken in 1964 and not earlier as previously stated in 1960/61.  Post sent to us was addressed to 156 Chan Gardens, 1st floor.

When you drove off Argyle Street into the flats, there was an in and out separate entrance with  a low building housing a caretaker.

Thanks, I've updated the name.

A bit more info from https://gwulo.com/node/42713 is that the buildings were built in 1938, and Palmer & Turner were the architects.

Eu Gardens/Mansions can be viewed here and here

Very interesting. You can see the central block and the two side blocks in the picture submitted. The wall separating the flats from the pavement was definitely higher when we lived there in the 1960s.

I remember Eu Gardens from my childhood days in the early to mid fifties. I had a friend who lived there, and recall attending her birthday party.  If my memory is correct, I believe her name was Janet Cummings.  Those apartments were spacious and were mostly occupied by British families.