Anyway, the location for this squabble is where the Hang Hau Road and Clearwater Bay Road roundabout now stands. The first image shows us looking more or less north, as the cars and bikes drive down the road towards the turnoff for Silverstrand Beach Road.
We can actually identify a few of the buildings even though they no longer exist in this form. In the top image on the left we have a building that was called "Villa Placida". This place is also called "Chocolatier" on some maps and has been sitting empty for a long time - making it popular with Urbex peeps. (see here).
In the second image the camera has panned slightly to the right showing a blue trimmed building on the right hand side. This is the original house located at 1 Silverstrand Beach Road. On older maps it's marked as P.I.M.E House, which makes me think it might be owned by the Catholic Church. However, this building was redeveloped - so perhaps it was sold and redeveloped privately? If you know, please feel free to comment.
In the last image we are looking the other way, down the road with the beach turnoff on the left. There are three properties that are (almost visible). On the left we can see what looks to be the car port of a property that was called "Clearview". It has since been developed into a small development called Sussex Lodge. Sitting on the hill in the centre is the previous version of a house that with no name or number. I only know it occupies Lots 281, 282 and 282EXT of DD224. This might be enough for the postman, but it does make you wonder who lives there. The final house on the right is the former property occupying 836 Clearwater Bay Road. This place has long gone and been replaced by a massive house and perimeter wall.
Once again my Google marker is snapping to nearby buildings, it's not intentional and is beyond my control it seems.
Once again my Google marker is snapping to nearby buildings, it's not intentional and is beyond my control it seems.
12 comments:
Great find, Phil. Some interesting properties here. When I lived briefly in Tseung Kwan O, I would often pass by this stretch of road. I believe Villa Placida/Chocolatier had already sat empty for some time by then, though it was a few years before a body was found in there. It looks like the place had two entrances to its driveway when 009 drove by. The lower entrance looks to have been lost to the creation of the roundabout.
I couldn't find any reference to the house at 1 Silverstrand Beach Road as P.I.M.E. House. All the maps I saw that included it either had no name or Blue House.
Sussex Lodge should have originally been two houses, Clearview and its immediate neighbour. As for the house on the hill, I saw it in the newspaper when the movie Goldfinger came out in 2023. Let me try to find the article because it'll tell you who lives there.
832 Clearwater Bay was being built at the time, occupation permit was February 1968. I reckon that blue billboard on the right side of your third screencap under the powerline showed the name of house's construction firm.
Hey Rodney, this one was quite difficult to find given the way the area has changed. Thankfully there was enough there to drop some clues. Still, very interesting to see. Yes, finding out who lives there would be interesting. Phil
No. 1 Silverstrand Beach is named P.I.M.E. House in the maps from 1987 onward. The house next to Clear View also got a name, Haven View. There are other interesting properties in this film that I trust you have identified, Phil.
Villa Pine is out of view, but it is usually referred to as home of Alexander Fu and Jenny Tseng. There was a preposterous programme on the tele a few years back, where a few scantily clad 'actresses' go to the abandoned villa to look for Fu's ghost and apparently 'found' him. His house has been explored by Urbex peeps as well. I read an interview conducted in their home shortly before his death, but the pictures did not look like Villa Pine. They definitely did live in the area though.
Here is the article that has a picture of the house on the hill. I had trouble with the link, so you may need to paste it in a search engine if it doesn't work.
https://www.stheadline.com/realtime-finance/3310009/詹培忠親解金手指-佳寧案細節揭秘陳松青無金主-談港股審慎悲觀
I was contacted many years ago by a guy writing a biography on Fu Sheng. He wanted to know if I knew where his house was, I didn't but I knew it wasn't at Bruce Lee's old house as many people believed. I believe he interviewed Jenny Tseng for the book so perhaps it is in there. I've not read it though. Yes, another property coming soon. So it looks like the property is related to the Carrian scandal. I have a book detailing the events so I will see if it gets mentioned. Nice one.
Okay, so that article basically says that the property on the hill was occupied by convicted fraudster, George Tan (Carrian Group) following his release from prison. Wiki has a Chinese page for George Tan (陳松青) that says he lived here following his release in 1998 after it was redevloped by one of his daughters. Seeing as Tan passed away in 2001, it's most likely still owned by one of the companies set up by his daughter and I imagine they still live there.
The only mention of Fu Sheng's house in the bio I mentioned is that he and Jenny bought a "Spanish-style" villa near Hang Hau for $3M. I'm not sure that describes Villa Pine? Seems like the price they paid in the 1970s though is fairly substantial. Could be an error though, I've noticed some others in the text.
Tan passed in 2021 according to the interweb. Many articles refer to the home as 281 Clear Water Bay Road, but as you pointed out, it is clear Lot 281. The house was bought for $40 million in 1992 and rebuilt, though it does somewhat resemble the old house.
I will have a look for the Fu Sheng interview and will let you know if I can locate it. If he and Jenny did pay $3 million for Villa Pine, it would have been a very, very large amount for that area. I might have read that the villa was bought by Fu's family and after his passing, Jenny returned its ownership to them.
Another interesting property was Silverstrand Estate, which had a water tower out front and was demolished in the early 1990s for the new Casa Bella development. Although I don't believe I have actually seen it used in a film or TV, I have noticed it many times in the background on TVB series. Jenny drove her personal Mercedes-Benz convertible down Silverstand Beach Road and took the hairpin turn towards the estate in her 1980 TVB special. I saw the video on an Old Benz HK Facebook page recently.
that hairpin also leads/led to Silverstrand Garden and Lakeview Villa which were around at that time, so these are also possibilities. Although the former is more like a townhouse terrace rather than "Spanish-style". That latter description is used for village houses, which I'm not sure it accurately describes the real estate on those estates.
The house that Fu Sheng and Jenny Tseng lived in was 12 Silver Crest Road, Bougainvillea Gardens House 1 with an occupational permit of 1977. Google calls it Bougain Villa Gardens Block 1. I knew it was not 41 Cumberland, not sure how that old, old rumour started.
I first saw the house on the website of his nephew and it matches the likewise undated interview at Ming Pao Weekly magazine. On the mpweekly site, you'll need to click on any picture and scroll to about picture #24 to see the house. I don't have myTV Super now, but I am certain it was used in Jenny's 1980 TVB musical special with George Lam, where he debuted his first hit song "Need You Every Minute".
Here are the links:
http://www.jenapang.com/pages/page 7.html
http://www.mpweekly.com/entertainment/article/【當年今周】傅聲喪禮未亡人甄妮哀聲慟哭｜1983年7
nice one Rodney, many thanks for sharing. I have no idea where the Cumberland Road rumours started either - probably just some superstitious nonsense from someone who wanted to imbue some sort of supernatural properties on the house.
It appears the house at 836 Clear Water Bay Road in the screencap remained for some time even after the much larger Chi Lo was constructed. Again, there may be inconsistencies regarding estates agency info, but on one website I see it with May 20 1977 occupation permit and having two houses on site.
A May 1996 map still shows the original rectangular house next to the much larger Chi Lo. The George Tan house is shown as WIP Jan 1993 on a couple of maps.
https://www.facebook.com/loveyouGary/videos/916428026145279
Here is the link I originally saw Old Benz Club HK Facebook of Jenny driving her personal vehicle and navigating the hairpin towards Silverstrand Estate with the water tower present.
I had a look at Bougainvillea Gardens and cannot find any transaction history at all using the free option of estates agency websites.
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