Dragon Lodge, 32 Lugard Road [????- ]

@David, how does this site work?, I have typed in Thorpe Manor + May Road under various permutations but never get any matches.

It appears only to list current buildings, not ones that were there before.

If you put "May road" for the street, it lists all the buildings, and there aren't many.

Many thanks marlowe. I tried College Road where a friend lives in #3, however it does not appear. Anyway an interesting site.

Hi there, I came by many times at Dragon Lodge. Now the front gate is broken open due to corrosion and I went into the complex and had a look and took many fotos.
On the entrance to the house someone wrote "C.E.O. RR Eyes of my soul 1958"
This is a huge complex, but I did not go up inside into the second floor or down to the very low parts of the building. Many plants on the terrace and it looks like the renovation works many years ago were suddenly stopped. the guards house on the ground floor level says GO BACK from a graffity and on the wall adjacent to the entrance is a huge graffiti. Also the glass house on the left side is sprayed on, with Go back.

I tried to find out more about this girl Julia Blitz who supposedly lived there in 1964 via internet but could not find much apart from a female professor now living in South Africa. Is she the one. Does she know more about the house?

From whom is the haunted webside, posted here, very scary though....

I am just living in hong Kong since some years but I am very interested in the old history of Hong Kong and also this building as it is one of the ffew old stil existing.

How can we get more information about the owner or occupants?

I can upload some photos with currents status from outside and inside.

regards, Christian 

Hi, my friend and I have also been very curious about the building and have been inside for a look!!

We got half way up the stairs and freaked out - it felt like someone was there... as if we would stumble upon a squatter!! Or the ghost!  So we backed out!

The house is very dated inside, awful 80's decor ... I phoned the agent next door who told me it was purchased in 2004 for around $76.3 mil.....he reckoned it would be worth $300 mil now..I doubt that!

The owner must have pots of money to let the property rot away like it is doing!!

i would like to take another look, if i get the courage it smelt terrible upstairs....the ghost storey freaked me out a little too!

I know the lady who lives just along the road, so Ill ask her if she knows more. She has live there for years!!

Another friend of mine said just 5 years ago it was beautiful– so I imagine because of the weather it has decayed very quickly..!!  If I find out more I will keep you posted!

BTW, if anyone’s interested my Dad is working on restoring the Middlesex monument on the Peak.

Christian, I knew the house - Dragon Lodge - very well as we lived at 30 Lugard Road (Hirst Mansions) in the 1950's before moving to Mt. Kellett.  

The owners at that time were the Blitz family - I was friendly with the children, twins Francis and Gerard and a daughter Julia.  They were South African and I believe the father was a diamond trader.  We used to play at the house all the time and the children went to the Peak School with my sister and I.

I have a friend who is in touch with the twins, one of whom lives in South Africa, the other one in Spain.  If you send your email address I will forward it to him and perhaps you will learn more about the house.

I visited the house several years ago and it was sad to see it in decline then.  I am surprised no one has renovated or rebuilt on the site.\

One of my friends in HK sent me some pictures and this link and thought I could fill in a bit.

Late in the summer of 1989, I was transferred to Hong Kong from London to manage a US bank's equity operations in the region. My wife and I always liked things old and exotic and we both fell in love with The Dragon Lodge. It was pretty basic at the time with a simple, unrenovated, grey 1920's cinder block and screed house with a yard out front overlooking the harbor with an apartment underneath.

The apartment was occupied by a guy with  a sketchy job description who we decided was a spook (CIA) who told us all the stories...first owner builds, goes bankrupt; second guy dies in the house; Japanese invade and behead 7 Catholic nuns in the front yard; becomes basis in the late 60's for a property "pump and dump" scheme, another bankruptcy. So maximum bad feng shui and who knows what was, and was not true. Perfect for us!

We got a contractor in to renovate: no structural changes (it was a rental) but new bathrooms, kitchen, air conditioning, floor repair and paint inside and out. We got rid of the CIA agent, redid his apartment so we could move in while the house was being completed. My wife was still in Europe but I moved our clothes up to the apartment from our temporary flat, prepared to move in after a trip to Indonesia. I return and moved into the apartment.

Must admit it was a little scary...very dark, a little damp and completely and absolutely isolated. For the folks who were up there in the house recently, try it at night sometime. But I loved to sit out in the yard at night with all of Hong Kong below you and nothing but jungle and intense darkness around you.

Unfortunately, within a week and just as the house was completed and ready to move into, my boss in London called, said we were leaving to another firm and did I want to run the US operation? Had to go right away but I had one night in the house proper the night before I left. Went back to pack our stuff a few weeks later and that was the last I saw of the Dragon Lodge until 1996...my replacement heard the stories, saw the house, said forget it and I understand it lay empty until the end of the two year lease with my old bank.

I visited Hong Kong in 1996 and went for a walk around Lugard Road to check up on the house. It had been transformed into something completely unrecognizable: several additions, a complete remake of the gardens (which were the "jungle" when we were there) and it all looked quite swish. From the pictures my HK friend sent today, it looked like it had a further renovation beyond the one I saw in "96. When we were there, the ground floor was a kitchen, dining room, living room and sitting room looking out over the front yard. Up the main stairs and think there were three bedrooms with an ensuite bath in the master and the other two used a common bathroom which we renovated in red, black and white tile...perhaps the tacky 80's resto someone else spoke about! But from what I could see from the street, the place was completely transformed from when we rented it. The last dertail I remember was a small stair off the kitchen that went to a tower with three maid rooms and simple shower/bathroom.

All in all, I wish we could have stayed a few years but things changed and we had to move on before we could enjoy it, or perhaps be scared half to death by it! No ghosts, strange noises. lights or anything else untoward...just darkness, amazing silence with only a steady thump, thump, thump coming up from the harbor and all of Hong Kong below you. Bright lights, big city, could not be beat!

I just made contact with Julia Blitz who lived there in the late 1960s.  She said she never heard of a ghost - and she lived in the house !

My parents almost bought it in the mid-1980s.  They stumbled across it during a Saturday afternoon jog and just let themselves in.  They were in love with the idea of renovating it and during due diligence were warned not to buy it. They were told about the nuns that were murdered there.  Everyone they talked to told them the place was cursed, so they backed out of the sale.  They were later told that a Japanese guy bought it and painted it gun-metal grey.  

Hi Alison. Just saw your comments about dragon lodge from last year.
Many comments have been entered since then.
I also enquired on this in a Facebook group called Hong Kong in the 60/70ties. There someone mentioned that a Michele and Nicole Nossal moved in in 1967.
If you can connect me with the Blitz family, would be great.
Currently the property is locked with a temporary gate.
Best regards,
Christian.

Hi,

I am very interested in learning mor about this site: the ghost stories, construction work or anything else really. Someome mentioned that they could forwrad my email address to the Blitz family. It's tara.prakash14@hotmail.com I would be very grateful if you could do so. Would absolutely love to hear from them. I live ten minutes away from Dragon Lodge and run on the Peak Trail almost everyday, passing the house.

thank you!

Hi. 
Could you please elaborate on the murdered nuns?
Thanks! 

Some fresh pics from this team of explorers : https://m.facebook.com/hkurbex?id=401814783282897&_rdr

I was quite astonished, as I came across this thread regarding the Dragon Lodge.

On the one hand astonished about the fact that this house has been in such a bad condition for so many years now, without anyone renovating this to an exclusive house again.

On the other hand I was really astonished about the related ghost stories. I grew up on Lugard Road and have been next door neighbours to Dragon Lodge. I remember playing with their daughter as a kid and also being in their house quite often. As we both went to Peak School, my parents took shares on driving us children to school, before they went back to America. This was in the late 70's, early 80's.

I cannot remember any ghost stories, nor can my mother who I also asked after reading the threads.

The house back then was of course in a great condition and I also remember the beautiful lawn in front of the house.

Of course now looking at the house makes it sad to let it rot away like that and also it is clear that it is eeire. Mostly any abandond house will be spooky, especially after leaving it to rot like that.

Fortunately I have good memories of growing up on Lugard Road and also with Dragon Lodge.

Hi,
My family and relatives occasionally look up and see what people have posted about this house as my Great Grandfather used to live there. I'm surprised nobody (and none of my distant relatives) have posted this.
Sadly, I heard it has been torn down now. But from my understanding he lived there in the 50s. I conclude this based on pictures I've seen of my Father and Uncle as young boys at the house.

I never had a chance to ask my Grandfather or Grandmother about it and my Father has limited memories of the place as he was young, however he says he never saw any ghosts there.

He said as a young child he remembered the smell of cigar and cigarette smoke in the house during large parties. The parties would include high ranking politicians, bankers, and high ranking soldiers.
He remembered there was often one older Caucasian man dressed up with many war medals because he had a magnificent white mustache/beard. As a child he would always grab/touch it because it was so magnificent and white.

Does anyone know more about this house? I would love to learn more about my family's past.

Walked along Lugard Road this afternoon and found that the gate to Dragon Lodge has been forced open and loads of people were making the most of the opportunity to have a look inside.

What a mess. The structure still appears to be basically sound, but there would be little but the frame of the building worth saving in any future renovation.

On entering through the front door you're in a rather modest hall.

Major rooms on ground floor are lounge/study,... 

...and dinning room.

Not much furniture, but the dinning room table has some sort of aged computer-like machine on it. I wonder if that could help to date whenever the place was abandoned.

The first floor has three bedrooms, the master with en-suite.

The second floor is a bit strange, consisting of an open lobby/landing at the top of the stairs...

...with two large windowless spaces accessable through low doors off it.

These two dark spaces under the eves are extensions to the original building as can be determined by comparison of its profile from the east. In the first photo in this post the area enclosed by roof tiles on the 2/F nearest the camera has steeply sloping sides but a flat top, which is the shape of the windowless room on the inside. However, in this 1954 photo in which Dragon Lodge is the furthest building from the camera, the same part of the 2/F rooftop is triangular in shape, meaning that the windowless room hadn't yet been constructed.

Being a bright and sunny day, and with so many people around, it wasn't spooky inside, so no, we didn't see anything supernatural. But hang on a sec!...What's that on the roof in the pic entitled "Dragon Lodge, from overgrown front garden"?  

It's still there?! Man, I really need to visit before they tear it down.

I asked about the history some more.
So my Great Grandfather owned a construction company. Using his company and knowledge he had, did some sort of major construction or restoration of the roof after he purchased it.
Apparently he was very proud of that feat. Something about lifting rooves up in one piece... And then putting new ones on in the same fashion...?
I'll have to ask again about that not sure if I'm mixing things up.

His eldest son took over the house and all his businesses. However, much later on that son committed suicide. Not sure where =\.... Maybe in the house?

***Edit sorry, apparently it was the youngest son not eldest.

Got into the compound last weekend, it is in almost the exact same state as documented here already.  However, they have started tightening security a bit. You can still get around a fence on one side by going through some brush, or you wan squeeze under the main gate through a noticeable gap... Do be careful about who sees you go in, since it does look sketchy and there are many signs around the compound that say something to the effect of 'private porperty, police will be called.'     I think they caught on to all the people exploring it....

Hi Christian,

My Grandparents lived in Dragon lodge from the 50's to the 70's, my Dad and his brother Gerard and Sister Julia whom you mentione ligrew up there- they have all since left HK and are alive and well. They were very happy living there and I do not recall any stories of ghosts from my childhood.

If you have questions about this house- I am sure I can get answers for you.

So sad to see it in such bad shape- I wish someone would buy it and do it up- I wonder what it would be worth today.

Best,

Jonathan

Hi Tara,

Who are you trying to get hold of in my family?

Best,

Jonathan

Jan Schultheiss has posted some great pictures of/from Dragon Lodge in the 1920s

Hey Jan,

Great pics from the 20's that you have posted there! Also fantastic to see the old house next to Dragon Lodge, Lugard Rd. 31, where I grew up.

Thanks!

Cheers,

Richard

I walked past Dragon Lodge last week and noticed a new gate and fence on the Lugard Road side, freshly planted shrubs above the drive way and the front garden cleared. What appears to be new guttering around part of the roof is a hopeful indication that the old building is to be renovated rather than demolished.    

Hey all, So I read up on the forum. I see there are some conflicting dates and so I asked for confirmation from distant family members. Great Grandfather had purchased the property after the war. Apparently the Japanese had used it for operations. The roof had collapsed and the property was is shambles. He rebuilt it. Great Grandfather lived there from 1945 to 1952. They moved out but continued to own the property and rented it out. Actually date of sale is unknown. Attached pictures are from 1949 and 1952 one of my Uncle who has recently passed away and other of my father.

Richard, I have a funny feeling I knew you from late '70s HK though you would have been much younger, more a toddler.

If your dad was Swiss or German and your mum Chinese, & you had a brown dog called Whiskey.......then bingo.  

Went by again yesterday. There was a man working on the garden, which has been mostly cleared up along with the outside areas. He actually let us come through the main gate (very kind) to look around and do whatever we pleased really. He said they are going to do very little to the inside but that the outside will be thouroughly cleaned up.

Regards

Great pics posted  by  Schultheiss.!  Pity my parentss are no longer around to see them - our family -my parents and 2 siblings lived at #31 from 1954 - 59. We went to the Peak School along with the Blitz boys (Dragon Lodge) , the Threlfall girls, David Baines (sp?)  and other kids from Hirst Mansions.  I remember Julia Blitz was born shortly before we left HK in '59 

I  had never been back to HK until 1984 - when #31 appeared to be well on its way to becoming derelict; when I visted again in '91 there appeared  to have been some site levelling done - the building had been knocked down by then 

Hi peakchild 

I lived with my parents and 2 siblings in #31 Lugard Rd between 1954 and 1959 - we are also Peak School kids!  We had a great childhood , when not at the LRC on May Rd or Big Wave Bay we were free to roam around the neighbourhood - out amahs kept trouble at bay I suppose; but we ventured as far as the rifle range on Harlech Rd where we were agog when the Army turned up for target practise - firing at targets on High West - we collected Cu cartridges from the shooting platforms  - and one day we actually found a live round, which after much agonising we returned to the sergeant! Receiving much praise from him (but he never let us near the Bren guns - drat) I recall the nicest soldier a Ghurka cpl. I digress....  However, one building we were told was OUT OF BOUNDS was the ruin uphill from #31 (at the same level as Hirst Mansions)  - which our amahs told us was haunted - the alleged murder of nuns had happened there we were told, their ghosts could be seen and heard etc. ....- it had the desired effect, keeping us kids out of the derelict bldg - my theory is that the ghost story was dreamt up by our amahs to help keep us safe from rickety stairs, suspect flooring etc. 

best rgds

PV

I found that the link of "It's haunted" was broken. However, I read another page regarding this here (http://hongwrong.com/haunted-hong-kong/). In this page, we can see some photos what it looks internally, with abandoned furnitures.

On the other hand, there are several video clips posted in Youtube with searching the words "Dragon Lodge".

Update on access as of Christmas this year. There are a number of extensive security features now built in, barbed wire (especially around the previously easily accessed sides of the compound) and new fencing. Really only one way in now, if you are slim enough to shimmy under the gate...

Are you by any chance the great grandson of the building contractor M.L. Tom (譚文龍) aka K.S. Tom who specialized in rebuilding Peak homes shortly after the War ? 

Tom's address was listed as 32 Lugard Road in the Telephone Directory for HK and Kowloon in 1948 which matched your description of your great grandfather living there from 1945 to 1952 and since his name contains the Chinese character for dragon, my suspicion is Dragon Lodge was named after him. 

If this is indeed correct you might find an article I just posted about Tom Construction at the Industrial History site of interest and welcome any additions/corrections:   

https://industrialhistoryhk.org/tom-construction-co-%e9%a0%86%e8%88%88%e9%9a%86%e5%bb%ba%e7%af%89/

Hello, 

I believe my Grandfather was the last person to live at 32 Lugard Rd. My parents , siblings and I spend many weeekend there, as have all my cousins. Part of the reason why my grandfather sold the property was the inaccessibility of it- I do believe he loved that house but as he got older , it was getting more and more difficult for him to the house while maintaining quite a busy schedule. 
Dissapointingly, we never saw ghosts. Giant centipedes, Cockroaches and other insects, yes. But never anything supernatural. 

hi Gem -  my theory holds that the ghost story originated at #29 Lugard Rd - with death

of  some nursing sisters (nuns?) during WW2- accidental, they lived there.

  Our amahs made up the story that #29

was haunted to keep kids out of the ruin that the building had become - wrecked after shelling by Japanese

artillery. Someone confused the house nos, so  now it is #32 that is derelict and maybe haunted.

   Quite simple really ---  best wishes

Peter Van

Thank you Peter ! 
The origin of haunted stories of Dragon Lodge actually makes a lot of sense - it sounds excatly like the sort of story my own Ahma would have told me as a child. 
The urban legends have grown in the last decade or so because of the state of the house as it is now. How I wish people can see what a magnificent place it was minus all the ghost stories and before it was abandoned. My grandfather put quite a bit of work in the house before he moved in - he restored the floors, installed quite an elaborate AC system and reoutfitted the garden suites, not to mention installing the greenhouse. I remember huge catered parties. There is a photograph of all the grand kids and my grandfather on the terrace, where the marble table is now. 
 

It really is lovely to hear from former residents and neighbours. 
 

cheers! 
Gem

Do post the photo if you can find it

Hi there Peter,

I'd love to hear more about your experiences, as I'm writing an article which plans to mention this building. I'm on thomas.hale89@gmail.com. 

Kind regards,

Thomas Hale

Thomas - Plse send me heads up when you publish yr article, would be intested to read it.  I lived on Lugard Rd in the early - mid fifties ( 1954 - 59)  onwards. Among the kids in the neighborhood there were the Blitz boys - Francis was a little older than I while Gerard 1 yr younger.  Mr Blitz drove a Citroen (traction avant)  in which it was difficult manoeuvring the narrow Harlech rd access side to Lugard Rd past the rifle range.

At one stage lots of the Lugard rd kids made a collection of spent Cu cartriges - we had >100 so one of the NCOs kindly gave us an empty ammo box in which to keep what was soon a large collection - only once did we find a live round - which the NCO said we should hand over. We did this - much to the Sgt Major's praise  

It was fun roaming around High West (when not at the LRC for swimming or at Peak School for education)   

At one stage we spent afternoons blocking access to US sailors on R&R with their girlfriends - we charged a 10cent toll - which we subsequently spent at the Peak tram SHOP  - on ice cream and sour plums -- our parents put a stop to this racket  pretty soon!

best rgds  - happy trails 

PG (vander Voort)

Hi there Peter,

Thanks very much for your quick reply and these fascinating details.

Is there an email address I can reach you on? Just had a few additional queries about the property that I thought you might have some insights on.

All best,

Tom 

Hi Peter,

Francis is my Dad and Gerard, my uncle. I'll be chatting to my Dad who lives in South Africa today and will mention that you remember him!

Fun story- thanks for sharing.

All the best,

Jonathan Blitz

Hi Thomas,

If you like I can put you in touch with my Dad. He and his parents lived at Dragon Lodge for years.

Best regards,

Jonathan Blitz

Say hi to your Aunt Julia for me.  I wrote and asked her about the ghost in 2012. 

hi Jonathan  I caught up with Gerard several years ago via Gweilo - he sent me Chinese N Y wishes.

Do convey my rgds again , to Francis as well - I recall he visited us ca 1963 in The Hague - he was on holidays from boarding school I think.

Is Gerard still in HK?

You g/father's Citroen I remember and the problems driving/parking along Harlech and Lugard roads, I recall at least one incident of the vehicle being 'stuck'  also on the driveway from Lugard rd down the Dragon Lodge driveway. 

Yr g/father was expert at driving it out to save the  day,  so to speak 

best rgds

PVan Der Voort

Hi Jonathan,

That would be great - thanks very much. Could you drop me an email on thomas.hale89@gmail.com?

All best,

Tom

Hi Jonathan,

Just checking in on this - email is thomas.hale89@gmail.com. Would be great to hear from you.

All best,

Tom

I went past today and despite all the "private property/no trespassing" notices, I could see that a large section of roof tiles has come away from a section of the roof revealing...just a concrete substructure, so it looks like the tiles were really just for show. Still a house with great character, despite looking derelict.