# 30 Po Shan Road – another one bites the dust

Or at least gets turned into dust

I was doing a bit of looking around the other day for my other film location-related blog – after watching Ang Lee’s Lust, Caution – and decided to see whether or not # 30 had found some new owners/tenants.

Sadly it looks as though it does have new owners and instead of restoring the place to its former glory they have completely demolished it to make way for another high-priced mid-levels development.

In case you haven’t seen Lust, Caution (can’t blame you, it bored the tits off me) or have no idea which house I am talking about here is a grab (or two) from the film.

This place had exceptional style and is an example of the type of curvy art deco architecture that is rarely valued here in HK. I just wonder why no one was up in arms when it was announced this place was to be demolished – or perhaps it was just done sneakily? The residence was tucked away out of sight and out of mind right at the very top of the secluded Po Shan Road so I guess it’s not surprising that it came down without any fuss. Big big shame.

I never actually made it up there myself – although it has been on my to do list, and actually the building is still featured in Pete Spurrier’s excellent Heritage Hikers Guide to HK on the very first ‘hike’ around the Peak area. Sorry Pete, you’ll have to amend your book for the next print.

[EDIT 20/09: I leafed through the second edition of Pete's book in PAGEONE earlier today and can confirm the man was already way ahead of me and the book had already been changed]

Anyway, there is a nice picture of it courtesy of my friends at Urban Ghosts Media.

Here is the most recent grab taken from Streetview which shows just the empty plot (sniff sniff).

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This entry was posted on September 6, 2012 at 12:19 pm and is filed under Colonial, Film locations, Hong Kong Island with tags 30 Po Shan Road, art deco, Caution, demolished, films, Lust. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

6 Responses to “# 30 Po Shan Road – another one bites the dust”

James Says:
September 17, 2012 at 3:33 pm

I was walking on Po Shan Road today and noticed the house just before it, I think number 24, is also now in the process of being demolished. It was not as nice as this one, but it was still a lovely building. You can now see just how steep the slope is behind it – a reminder of the landslide in 1972.

Reply
- Phil Says:
  September 17, 2012 at 4:45 pm
  
  Hi James – yes, I have also seen pictures of # 24 and was wondering when that would also come down. It’s a real big shame about all these buildings. It really is the end of an era for many of these areas.
  Cheers, Phil
  
  Reply
cheddy Says:
September 6, 2012 at 9:01 pm

I went there last Winter and found out it was gone gone gone… alas, such a shame

Reply
- Phil Says:
  September 6, 2012 at 9:17 pm
  
  do you know anything about its history cheddy? Certainly pre-war and Shanghai/Bauhaus-style, but I have no idea when it was built and whop lived there.
  
  Edit: I found a decent summary on Square Foot courtesy of Andy Cooray. Here is the link: http://www.squarefoot.com.hk/section/magazine-81-diamond-in-the-rough/
  
  Here is an excerpt:
  
  The grossly neglected colonial mansion on 30 Po Shan Road, Mid-Levels is hard to miss. An impressive four-storey structure, complete with spiral staircase, one can’t help but feel that it has seen much better days. According to urban legend, in the ‘60s the house was owned by a corrupt former police inspector, named Lui Lok. He literally abandoned the property a decade later after fleeing from the ICAC to Taiwan, leaving it to fall victim to decay and vandals for almost 40 years.
  
  However, Raymond Wan, director of investment at Savills Hong Kong, the man in charge of the Po Shan property, offers a different side to the story. He says the house is now owned by the Yu Ming Group, and prior to that by British American Tobacco Ltd. Wan, who has no knowledge of the infamous Lui Lok, reveals that the 10,000-square-foot site area is currently on the market for HK$450 million. Potential buyers have the option to tear down the house and build a new luxury mansion or even two semi-detached homes, with a total gross floor area of 36,000 square feet.
  
  Reply
smog Says:
September 6, 2012 at 6:19 pm

Sadly. it’s been like that for at least a year and a half. I had no idea what was in that space before. And slightly surprised that it was in Pete’s book.

But Tang Wei’s nipples are utterly magnificent, so the memory lingers on…

Reply
- Phil Says:
  September 6, 2012 at 6:53 pm
  
  that long? well, not unexpected because I think google were updating streetview mid-2011 (I was caught on camera in Tai Po), I just have never made it up there to see for myself. An absolute crying shame…about the house I mean, not Tang Wei’s nips
  
  Reply

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