Thanks. One more glance for the memory. My Shum Shui Po home building had the same design layout and both conditions look similar. The first impression when reaching my roof top was the smell from the red clay tiles after the rain. Soon, my attention was to the sky as I struggled to put my kite into the air. As most pre-war buildings were 4-storey high, we kite-fighters were on level playing field except for the few on 3-storey roof.
Note the pitched roof, and the low separation wall between units that crumbled over time, possibly accelerated to enhance movement while on roof top.
Note the stair covers on the roof top, and the wood-buring chimneys next to them. Below are the kitchens with build-in wood burning stoves which gradually were replaced by portable burners that use liquid fuel. Roof top additions were built all around but not on this building.
By the time when this photo was taken, I believe the pop-up hamlets built by refugees in the late 1950s on roof tops, as was on my building, have long vacated.
Comments
Re: The Blue House
Hi There,
That would be the Roof Top of the now well known Blue House at Stone Nullah Street. If you look at Google Map the shape of the building matched.
T
The Blue House
Well spotted - and that matches the location from where the photo was taken - Kenny Court in Kennedy Street.
Cliff
Pre-war Building Roof Top
Thanks. One more glance for the memory. My Shum Shui Po home building had the same design layout and both conditions look similar. The first impression when reaching my roof top was the smell from the red clay tiles after the rain. Soon, my attention was to the sky as I struggled to put my kite into the air. As most pre-war buildings were 4-storey high, we kite-fighters were on level playing field except for the few on 3-storey roof.
Note the pitched roof, and the low separation wall between units that crumbled over time, possibly accelerated to enhance movement while on roof top.
Note the stair covers on the roof top, and the wood-buring chimneys next to them. Below are the kitchens with build-in wood burning stoves which gradually were replaced by portable burners that use liquid fuel. Roof top additions were built all around but not on this building.
By the time when this photo was taken, I believe the pop-up hamlets built by refugees in the late 1950s on roof tops, as was on my building, have long vacated.