Compound of three houses on Tak Shing Street [1929-????] | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

Compound of three houses on Tak Shing Street [1929-????]

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Submitted by Sonic2016 on Tue, 2016-09-27 07:13
Current condition: 
Demolished / No longer exists
Date Place completed: 
c.1929-01-01 (Month, Day are approximate)

Hi, 

I used to go to school at Escola Camoes along Cox's Road.  On the way, I'd pass by Tak Shing Road and there were these three old private houses enclosed in a compound.  From the outside you could see the the garages, and if you peaked through the big wide gates, you can see a podium.  As a child, I used to sneak in with my classmates and we'd pretend we lived there.  

As the years passed and the whole lot got sold off and demolished, I have often wondered who owned the premises and what was its history.  Anyone know?  

Much appreciated.

Veronica

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Photos that show this place

1945
1950
1950
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Comments

Submitted by cxavier on Thu, 2016-09-29 04:28.

Is this Veronica Castro? This is Christopher Xavier your classmate from Escola camoes. Yeah I remember Tak Shing street. There was that mall we used to buy things to eat at lunch time. I am living in San Francisco, CA keep in touch

Submitted by Sonic2016 on Thu, 2016-09-29 07:42.

Hi Xavier,

I'm afraid not Veronica Castro, although my grandmother's maiden name is "Castro".  I'm Veronica Veron Cruz.  I was in Escola Camoes from 1969 to 1976.  

As a toddler, I used to live in Chung King Mansion, Mirador Mansion, and along Austin Road and attended kindergarten (Chee Oi) where other Portuguese childeren also went.

From time to time, I still walk along Tak Shing and Cox's Road ... everything has changed so much but walking along these road make me reminisce those beautiful days.

Those three buildings look similar to the architecture of The Claremont Hotel, but they seemed rather private.  Hope someone could shed some light as their background.

Kind regards,

Veronica

Submitted by moddsey on Thu, 2016-09-29 14:15.
1962 Cox's Road
1962 Cox's Road, by eternal1966e

 

Submitted by Sonic2016 on Thu, 2016-09-29 15:14.

Thank you very much!  Love this picture.  I went there again this morning trying to remember how things were.  I was looking at the old cricket club.  The whole lot, the compound with the three buildings, was taken up by Fortune Terrace and Eastview.  What's left are old trees.  I used to play and sneak into the terraces of the old buildings on both sides of Tak Shing Street.  You got those in your picture.  I was rather surprised you got the opposite side of the three buildings I mentioned.

I lived at 130 Capri Building.  This picture seems to be taken from the building next(?).

The last time I saw those houses was when the servants opened the garage and were clearing out some old grandfather clocks that were stored there.  They seemed to be packing and moving away.

Thank you again.  

Submitted by philk on Thu, 2016-09-29 17:34.

I'm confused. Is that Cox's Rd we're looking at or the north side of Austin?

Submitted by moddsey on Thu, 2016-09-29 17:44.

You may wish to search for views of the Golden Gate Hotel or the Kowloon Bowling Green Club. These will be familiar places.

For Phil - we are looking at the eastern end of Cox's Road. The car parked in the foreground would be the car park of the KBGC with Cox's Road Children's Playground further up. Tak Shing Street would be in the middle of the 2 buildings.

Submitted by philk on Thu, 2016-09-29 17:59.

Okay, many thanks moddsey. Great find!

Submitted by Sonic2016 on Thu, 2016-09-29 18:08.

Hi Moddsey

... but then again, anyone happen to know what the buildings were for or who had own them?  Sorry kinda nosey I know.  But I had for a good part of my life always been wondering.  As a child we circulated among ourselves ghost stories or that someone had died there because we never saw any activity going on there.  Probably why we sneaked in and pretended we own the place.

Thank you!

Veronica

Submitted by cxavier on Fri, 2016-09-30 02:23.

I went to escola camoes from 1961-1968. My amah took me up to the compound there a few times when I was 6 or 7. She had a friend working there as an amah. I used to run around playing. While attending escola camoes, my classmates and I sneaked in there several times. It was rumored that an actor named Leung Sing Bo lived there. He was a famous Hong Kong Chinese comedian actor in the 50's-to early 70's. He was a very private man. This was comfirmed by numerous other individuals over the years. The compound was built around 1929. It had the date 1929 on top of the facade of the building. I always saw the fat man working two large dogs daily. Anyone who has more pictures of Cox's road or the playground please post them

Thanks for the memories

Christopher

Submitted by Sonic2016 on Fri, 2016-09-30 08:30.

Wahhh!!! Thank you, Christopher!  *Hugs*  You've got great memory.  Yes, it has a year on top of the house.  I've been struggling to remember what year that was and thought it might have been after the WW2.  

I think anyone growing up in Hong Kong in the 60s would have been familiar with Leung Sing Bo's face.   Even though I didn't grow up in a Cantonese speaking community I watched some of his films.

I think quite a bit of people from Escola Camoes plan a reunion sometime in November this year.  I know my year did.

Wanted to upload a picture of 'my year' but don't know how.

Anyway, thank you so much.  You gave me an answer that I've been wondering about for quite a while.  Nice to know you sneak around too.

Veronica

Submitted by David on Mon, 2016-10-03 13:55.

Hi Veronica,

The three houses are shown in this aerial view from the 1930s:

c.1945 Kowloon (detail)

And also in this map of the area from the 1950s:

http://gwulo.com/comment/37940?a=1#17/22.30443/114.17342/Map_by_ESRI-195...

Here's how to upload a photo to the site: http://gwulo.com/node/2076

And I've just made a page for Escola Camoes, in case anyone can tell us more about it: http://gwulo.com/node/34819

Regards, David

Submitted by David on Tue, 2017-01-31 11:09.

Thanks to Dede, who has posted some close-up and interior views of one of the houses in this compound: http://gwulo.com/node/34718/photos

Submitted by Dede on Tue, 2017-01-31 11:39.

Veronica,

 

I don't know anything about the history of the houses, but I have just uploaded some family photos showing part of the exterior and interior.

 

http://gwulo.com/atom/27355

http://gwulo.com/atom/27354

 

Dede

Submitted by AlexWONG on Sun, 2020-03-15 23:53.

Being a Boy Scout since I was ten. I often ventured to Kowloon from Hong Kong Island to visit our HQ the Morse House (1954-1991) by taking the Star Ferry and walked pass Tak Shing Street and that 3 grand houses in the 1960s. I in fact saw a lot of Cantonese Oprea Costumes and gadgets and trunks moved out from one of the houses waiting for removal when it was due to be demolished. Yes, Leung Sing Po was said to be living there. 

Submitted by philk on Thu, 2020-09-03 13:05.

According to the Fu Tak Iam biography, both #6 and #8 are mentioned as being the Fu family mansion. I'm not sure if this is an error (the Chinese text says the same thing) i.e. they either owned number 6 or 8, or that the family owned two properties and both were part of the "Fu mansion". Or perhaps each property was divided into two separate apartments (so 6 and 8 were different floors in the same building)?

Unfortunately, it is a very brief reference and there is no mention of what was done with the property/properties once Fu passed away in 1960.