Lena Lodge / Enchi Lodge (aka "Cherry 'Ole" or "Cheery 'Ole") [1921- ] | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

Lena Lodge / Enchi Lodge (aka "Cherry 'Ole" or "Cheery 'Ole") [1921- ]

Current condition: 
In use
Date Place completed: 
1921-01-01

This started with a photo from Sean Olson's family collection, with a handwritten note "Taken at Cherry Ole Fan Ling. Spent a week there with friends. Just off for a game of golf."

House at Fan Ling

We couldn't find any trace of it on the internet, til reader eatsee found the answer through some good research:

is this ths same building?

http://www.crystal.com.hk/c_folder/article/UploadFolder/Enchi%20lodge-4.jpg

source:http://www.crystal.com.hk/c_folder/article/list.asp?id=1053)

if so, it was called the lena lodge and was put on auction in 1972:

see this:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/56067913@N02/5187362187/

this is an aerial photo but the facade of the structure matched the cherry ole,  so I looked for lena lodge and found that it has changed its name to enchi lodge and is still preserved by and large very good, it was claimed to be a grade 2 monument but I think now it was sold to a private developer crystal.com)......sheer luck in this search.  Hope john olson will be happy about my efforts.

Phil also noted that it is visible in Google Streetview:


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Photos that show this place

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Additional notes from 80skid:

eatsee, great job working that out. full details from government's historical appraisal below. the building and stables were graded 2 in august.

Enchi Lodge Castle Peak Road, Kam Tsin Tsuen, Sheung Shui, N. T. Enchi Lodge (恩慈之家) (Lots 717 & 718, 2158RP in DD92) is a pre-World War II building in Sheung Shui. Probably built around 1921, it was first used by Jardine Trading Co. as a staff clubhouse. Later on, a man named Zhang Gongrang (張公讓), who may have been a general of the Chinese Nationalist Party (Guomindang, 國民黨), bought the Enchi Lodge and lived there when he came to Hong Kong. Mr. Zhang employed the villagers living in Kam Tsin Tsuen and he left Enchi Lodge before the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong. During the Japanese Occupation, Enchi Lodge was used as a Japanese military quarter and a hospital for Japanese soldiers.

After World War II, it was used for various purposes. In the 1950s-60s, Enchi Lodge was rented for film-making. Mr. Leung Sing-bo (梁醒波), who was a famous Cantonese opera artist in Hong Kong, has performed in Enchi Lodge. In 1967, Enchi Lodge was occupied by a number of foreigners and used as a private villa. Moreover, Enchi Lodge had once been rented to San Miguel Brewery Limited during 1969-1971.

Since 1991, Enchi Lodge has been (and still is) used as a drug addiction treatment centre run by the Drug Addict Counselling and Rehabilitation Service (DACARS, 得基輔康會), which was formed by a group of pastoral, medical, legal and social work professionals in early 1988. The name “Enchi Lodge” was assigned by DACARS in 1985. “Enchi” (恩慈) literally means favour and kindly affection given by God.

Historical Interest The compound comprises a two-storey main building and a small one-storey pitched roof building at the rear. A covered path connects the two buildings. The architecture of Enchi Lodge can be described as countrified Italianate with an admixture of Arts & Crafts and Art Deco features. The style evokes the country villas of Tuscany and Umbria with its primitive arched ground floor of rough stonework and its white painted upper storey of stucco-work. Projecting curved bays with balustraded balconies, full height stone angle buttresses, and a Roman pan-tiled roof with projecting eaves complete the picture. The interior floor plan is set on a central axis with central halls or rooms flanked by side rooms used for various purposes.

The ancillary block is situated to the north of the main building. This is a single storey building with a pitched roof of Chinese tiles and used to be the stables of the riding school. Inevitably, due to the many uses to which Enchi Lodge has been put, there have been alterations such as installation of aluminium windows and new floor finishes. Externally, however Enchi Lodge retains its distinctive architectural style which is very rare in Hong Kong. As such, it has obvious built heritage value.

Its social value lies in the rehabilitation service it provides to drug addicts. Locally it is known as “Tai Koo Lau”(太古樓) by the villagers in Kam Tsin Tsuen, but Enchi Lodge has never built up a close relationship with the local inhabitants who pay little attention to the activities there. As Enchi Lodge and its ancillary block are being utilized for a useful purpose, the question of adaptive re-use does not arise at the present time.



Also four phots here, including one similar to Olson's above. Really not changed much ... items 420 and on

http://www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/Museum/Monument/form/AAB-SM-F-Aa.pdf

It's funny, but I've actually passed this place twice before in a taxi. But because the lower ground is hidden from view on Castle Peak Road, there is no way I was going to recognise it. Seeing the streetview version above it jogs my memory.

In fact, I believe both David and myself went past it last year whilst in a cab on the way to Ki Lun Shan last year :-)

 

I can only say thanks and marvel at all of the knowledge that you all seem to have.

Another mystery solved!

If i could only trace an ancestor of my great grandmother Ching Ah Fung I would have nearly all the jigsaw. Afraid that is not likely though.

Thanks again to all.

Sean

I lived here in 1966/7 Private Hiring to the British Royal Military Police and my daughter Elaine Ann was born here also.  Great Memories and many, many thanks to Mr & Mrs Slack the then owners who lived many in Hong Kong Island.

AMF

 

Thanks for the information. Amazing the power of Gwulo!

Glad you have happy memories opf the place. My great aunt clearly enjoyed herself there many years ago.

Sean

Alexander, thanks for writing - it's always great to hear from people who've lived in the places we're just looking at in photos.

You wrote:

Would love to go back and actually see more of it as I'm staying in Johor Bahru, Malaysia??

Could be worth writing to DACARS at Enchi Lodge, Castle Peak Road, Kam Tsin Tsuen, Sheung Shui, N. T.to see if they'd be able to arrange a time for you to visit.

Regards, David

Hong Kong Telegraph 22 December 1925

Re: Fanling Hunt excerpt

"Next the hounds picked up a good scent at the back of the Cheery 'Ole and leaving the Portuguese Golf Club on the right made a bee-line for the hills."