Woodside House, Mt Parker Road

Woodside House is a huge colonial-style mansion situated in the lower portion of the Mt Parker Road trail (see another entry coming soon) in the Quarry Bay Extension of the Tai Tam Country Park. The text below (taken from the plaque outside on the road) mentions the continued existance of some of the original internal features, however, we couldn’t get in on the day we went and, actually, I have no idea if it is possible right now. Either way you can still wander through the main gate and have a rest on one of the benches inside the grounds whilst looking at its impressive facade.

The following text is taken from the information board on Mt Parker Road

“This elegant colonial house in Tai Tam Country Park (Quarry Bay extension) was originally called Woodside. Because of its red brick and granite structure, it is often known as the Brick House or Red House. Woodside was built as the residence of the manager and engineer of Taikoo Sugar Factory. After closure of the factory, the residence was reverted to the Government in 1976.

The Woodside Story

Woodside was built in the early twentieth century. Originally, it stood as two individual buildings, named Woodside 1 and Woodside 2. The two houses were flanked with a garden, and featured Chinese tiled roofs. During the Pacific War, Woodside was used by the Japanese. Their occupation of the house resulted in extensive damage and, after the war, Swire renovated the house between 1947 and 1951. The roofs were removed and the two separate buildings were connected. Today, after a century of change, Woodside greets visitors with its old charm – with the original wooden stairs, floorboards, doors and balconies. Between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, staff quarters of the Taikoo Sugar factory and Taikoo Shipyard spread around Quarry Bay and Shau Kei Wan. Today, only Woodside remains. This charming old brick house is the only remaining colonial-style residence in the area.

On a side note, my friend Mark – a long term expat in HK – once had a friend staying at the house when is was used for accommodation. It had a small library which tenants could borrow books from and when it was closing down various people helped clear the shelves of the various literature available. Mark managed to get dibs on a copy of Michael Crichton’s “Jurassic Park” (I think he was probably at the end of the queue) and took it home to read. When he got home he found that the inside had been completely hollowed out so that some naughty person could hide their stash of weed in there!! Anyway, if you’re reading this and you want your customised version of Jurassic Park back, let me know…

Advertisement