Saturday, November 19, 2016

Les Tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine - Jean-Paul Belmondo (1965) - Robinson Road, Central

Here's one that took a bit of effort to find. It's a great shot that shows why (I think) HK is now well past its best and far too cluttered. Take a look.


Just look at that wide open view when owning an apartment in the mid-levels pretty much guaranteed unimpeded views of the harbour and beyond. Can you guess which part of Robinson Road this is? It's the junction where Albany Road and Old Peak Road meet. There are a couple of key features that helped identify it (other than the general topography). The concrete base in which the large tree sits is still around. I doubt the tree is the same one from 1965 but the concrete base seems to be the same.


The second clue can be seen in the last screencap just above the red pillar box (that's a post box for the non-UK crowd). It's a white slab that runs along the top of a wall of the one the properties down the road. It turns out that it is still around and belongs to the only property that has stood the test of time: 1A Robinson Road. It's age (built in 1963) means it's been spared the indignity of some crap pretentious name and goes simply by its address. You can still see the white slab in the Streetview grab below. The red pillar box has been replaced by a new green one, but it's interesting (and often useful when it comes to identifying locations) to note that it still occupies the same position as its Colonial predecessor.


I'll leave you with a couple more shots from 1965 which show a small corner of the building that once occupied the location of what is now a high rise called "The Albany", plus a nice retro taxi cab.


I believe the previous version of The Albany (seen on the left in the above pictures) was in fact Govt quarters but that's about all I know of the place. The current high rise development was opened in 1989 so I can only assume the Govt quarters were still around until 1987. By the way, in case you hadn't realised, the wide open space behind the tree was and still is part of the Zoological and Botanical Gardens. The view is now blocked by the Robinson Road elevated road.

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