Thursday, February 12, 2015

Emmanuelle 2 - Sylvia Kristel (1975) - 15 Kennedy Road, Wanchai

This building is a bit of an enigma and now that it has been demolished and seems to be mistaken as being part of Tung Chi College. However, courtesy of the ever helpful 'C' we can set the record straight here with the information he provided over at Gwulo.com.
15 Kennedy Road was the residence of WOO Hay Tong (胡禧堂), the father of the late WOO Pak Chuen (胡百全, lawyer, ExCo and LegCo member). After the Woo family moved out, the house was the location of an art exhibition in 1987, and was the set of some films in the late 1980s. WOO Hay Tong was murdered by his nephew in 1932, and the content of his will is found in the Dec. 1, 1932 issue of the Hongkong Telegraph. It is interesting to note that he wanted his estate to be invested until 21 years after the death of his last surviving children and grandchildren who were born before his death.
Indeed, it looks as though the building was also featured in films during the 70's as our post here confirms. In Emmanuelle 2 it is the location of the ballet school where Emmanuelle visits the daughter of her husband's friend to invite her out. It's also where...*ahem*...well, best not to go into that here :-o


Sadly, the spot where this (and its neighbour, 15a) stood are simply empty spots with wooden hoardings hiding what was probably once part of their hillside foundations (what you can see on film is the upper floor of the building -  the rest of the building was underneath following the downward slope of the hillside). I believe they have been demolished as part of the never-ending site formation for the new Hopewell Centre. Big shame.

It could be wishful thinking on my part, but I believe the distant tree in the current Streetview grab (to the left and back of the large central one) might be the same one Sylvia is walking underneath in the first screencap. Getting closer reveals some common features.


No comments:

Post a Comment