Cavendish Heights (First Generation)

The building was numbered 35 & 37 in the Cavendish Heights complex. Here is a map of the area from c1967. The road at the time was Clementi Road. (The numbers and name come from the 1973 version of the same map)

Cavendish Heights 1960s, by Herostratus

It certainly looks like part of the senior staff quarters of Hong Kong Electric's Cavendish Heights complex from the 1960s. Three or possibly four similar blocks.

Notable for having very deep balconies set back into the apartments where you could sit on winter afternoons sheltered out of the wind and rain.

A friend and his family lived there for many years, 1967 onwards.

I lived at Cavendish Heights in the sixties up to 1968 the picture showing the flats is printed the wrong way round. it took a while for me to get the orientation of the buildings, all that is left of that complex  is a few feet of the original driveway road to it. Great place to live with HK Electric recreation club ,swimming pool, tennis courts, bowlinbg green, playground, snooker room and table tennis room as well as bar and large clubroom for parties,dances etc with a small bandstand stage in it. Large balcony overlooking the pool changing rooms for the pool guests and for changing for tennis or even lawn bowls. I played in the HK bowling championship for the club for one season we went from the third disision to the second division that year. It's the only game you can play where you can have a drink at both ends !

The two blocks side by side connected above the club house and the one at the front (on the left in the picture ) were the first ones built . The other two came later it's so long ago I had it in my head that there was actaully only one block there so I suspect the last one to be built  was the one at lower middle. Hard to describe its position in the picture. The pool is just out of shot to the left of the picture in line with the club house which had a balcony overlooking the pool. There were car parks in the open area in the middle with a line of  covered car parks at the far side.I used to ride a vespa scooter round and round that car park area before I got my licence and first motorbike which was an ex telegrams delivery bike (1960 BSA B40 350cc reg C443) A buddy (Branch Greaves) from school (KGV) and I got pally with the mechanics who worked on the telegram bikes. They could buy them and I bought mine from one of them. The head mechanic was called Henry Loc. He had restored a Harley Davidson and had left it parked on a vacant lot of ground on the other side of the valley at the bottom of Tai Hang Rd. The hillside slipped where his bike was and it got washed over the edge. You could still see it for ages but then it got buldozed into the ground and they built flats abiove it. It will still be buried there. We moved into Cavendish Heights early sixties from the other company accomodation in North Point House in the power station compound off Electric Rd in North Point. Our first flat there after moving from the company houses on Causeway Hill (number 5) was in a block which was right beside Kings road just down the hill from the State theatre. We lived on the first floor which had previously been the offices for the company so the rooms were huge. They sold that parcel of land off and the power station compound boundary was moved to be on the harbour side of Electric Rd.  We used to get collected on Kings Rd by a truck going from Taikoo to the Star ferry, on the return journey we would get dropped off just next to Fuk Yuen street ! I fell out of the truck a couple of times. I was into small engined models and Electric Rd went along to Victoria Park where I sailed my deisel powered model boats in the round boat pond. Went to see it on last visit but sadly gone but replaced with a more modern pond. I was surprised at how much the park had contracted a lot due to the road.  I went to see if Ah King Slipway was still there another of my haunts sadly gone. I remember going into a  big shed and seeing loads of ex army BSA M20 motorcycles , There were some crates which had water scooters in them which I have since discovered were buily by the Vincent motorcycle company. I never saw any out on the water though. So many great memories. I'm still in touch with many of those I grew up with from Causeway Hill and Cavendish heights as well as loads of old school pals from KGV. In fact I took an ex teacher Mrs McArdle out for lunch the day before yesterday.

We also lived at Cavendish Heights and Derek gives a good description of what a wonderful place it was to grow up in. I was the first baby to be born to a family living there in February 1960. My father David Bottomley who worked for HK Electric for almost 40 years confirms the following :

"We moved into No 27 Cavendish Heights in 1959. Originally there were just three blocks of flats ready for occupation in September 1959, 30 flats altogether. The side block of 10 identical flats were built in 1962. The so called new block of 36 flats were built I think in 1967, give or take a year, there were three flats on each floor, they were smaller and of a different design. We moved out of No 27 exactly 23 years after moving in and then moved to 90A Peak Road in September 1982. Six non Hongkong Electric residents refused to move out and to avoid a lengthy court case the Electric Co agreed to pay them a half a million HK dollars each as compensation which they agreed to after some haggling. The flats were demolished early in 1983."