Sai Kung Old House [????- ] | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

Sai Kung Old House [????- ]

Could anyone identify the house in the photo and share some information about it?

The house is located off Fui Yiu Lane at the end of Sai Kung old town and is surrounded by other small old houses that seem to date from a similar time to the main house - unusual given most of SK 'old town' is now made up of post-war buildings.

I'd love to know some history - when it was built, who owned it and why it has fallen into disrepair. It appears the house is split into three or six seperate units as there are six entrances into it, not sure if that's an original feature from when it was constructed or if the house was subdivided later on. I peaked inside one of the three doors along the rear of the house and saw a small room blackened by what appears to have been created by a fire - or perhaps this is just the old kitchen.

Photos that show this place

Comments

Photograph features

There is a horzontally polarised television aerial on the right hand side of the roof top aimed in an upwards direction - probably Kowloon Peak.

The doorway has large orange coloured posters with Chinese characters thereon.

The potted plants are in full bloom which suggests the photograph was taken during Lunar New Year time.

Looking at a satellite photo

Looking at a satellite photo and comparing to the map, I think we're talking about 41-45 Sai Kung Rd here. (That's lots DD215L 563 and 576.)

Checking the Rating and Valuation Department database, they say they have no age or permitted occupation purposes records for these buildings, and there's a note that "Matching work in progress for property data concerned".

I really couldn't find out much else; you need to pay if you want most records. I'm speculating, though, but I wonder if (at least partial) records have been lost for these since they're most likely pre-war properties. (And that the reason they're sitting vacant and semi-abandoned is that until the ownership can be established, they can't be torn down and replaced with something new and expensive.)

I hadn't realized how much

I hadn't realized how much reclamation there's been in Sai Kung over the last few decades. Looking at this photo, those houses would once have been facing (and fairly close to) the water.

You can just about make out those houses in this 1983 shot, right near the bottom of the photo and a bit left of center.

Thank you for the tip David!

Thank you for the tip David! I've just labelled it on the map - it's not an easy one to see on google earth though.

Correct - it was taken

Correct - it was taken earlier this year by myself

 

Wow fantastic - thanks for

Wow fantastic - thanks for all this info! I love the aerial shots and yes, if you zoom in the house is that large square looking building by the sea - now of course it's right across the street from Lakeside Garden apartments and rather far from the sea.

I asked Friends of Sai Kung, who kindly posted it to their Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/120488197266/?fref=ts

Stanley Chan replied:

It was built at 1920 by Mr Fong,during 1940, it was part of the Sai Kung Public School. You can find the roof top have a wall built for against the pilrates. In Chinese call 女兒牆

Thanks to FSK and Stanley for their help,

Regards, David

I believe that "女兒牆" would translate roughly to "parapet".

Wow that's exciting! Thanks so much for the help David and yes, many thanks to Stanley too of course!

Hi there, I came across your post

Maybe someone has already answered for you, but this delapidated building is the school my father went to as a child (born in SK in 1937).  The house had squatters in for sometime apparently before becoming unliveable.