17-19 Kennedy Road. Copyright Lo Family. benbowen.

Thu, 10/19/2017 - 19:47

The Lo Yuk-Tong family house, at 17-19 Kennedy Road, was first built in 1919, and demolished near 1970. It is one of the sites that was redeveloped to build current day Hopewell Centre. The picture shows the front side of the house, facing North. The house is built on the hillside with Kennedy Road being on Level 4 and terraced gardens on both sides.

3 generations of family lived in the house of up to 40 people, not to mention help and staff. This picture was taken during the marriage celebration of the eldest grandson; the double happiness sign can be seen hanging from the top of the house.

 

Date picture taken
1960s
Author(s)

Comments

Submitted by on
Thu, 10/19/2017 - 22:43

Hi benbowen,
Thank you for sharing photographs of this mansion. I have never seen such a clear photograph of this building before. What is the full name of the owner? Thanks.

Hi C - The owner was Lo Yuk-Tong (羅玉堂, 1881-1966). "He was a prominent banker and community leader. A graduate of Queen’s College [in Hong Kong], Lo started his career working for the trading house of Sassoon before becoming the comprador of the Mercantile Bank of India, a very important position since the bank was one of the big three banks in Hong Kong before being absorbed by HSBC in the 1960s. Lo also served as chairman of the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals in 1933 and president of the South China Athletic Association in 1934." According to http://industrialhistoryhk.org/bakilly-the-forgotten-maker-of-perfumes-…