If we were looking south over Homestead, wouldn't the land on the left be on the same level or higher, not the lower level shown above? Also the shape of the building looks different from the view of Homestead shown below, so might this be a different, older building?
Thanks for posting Annelisec. I agree that it’s not the Homestead Flats, but it’s a grand old building so well worth a bit of effort trying to identify.
Fortunately, the outlines of the distant hills and islands are distinct enough to be recognisable and are very useful in placing the location of the house.
No.1 is the main peak of Ap Lei Chau. No. 2 is Ngai Tau, the hill near the most easterly tip of Lamma Island. The top of another small hill, No. 3, is just visible above the roof of the mystery building. It’s Ap Lei Pai, the tiny island immediately south of and joined to Ap Lei Chau. Fortunately, No.’s 2 & 3 and the mystery building are all in a direct line of sight. So if a straight line is drawn between No.’s 2 & 3, then extended onto Hong Kong Island, it will show the rough location of the mystery house. Here it is.
Due to the scale of the map it’s difficult to see exactly where the line falls, but please believe me it’s around Coombe Road, which runs between Magazine Gap and Wanchai Gap.
Due to the tall vegetation, there aren’t many roadside spots on The Peak with unobstructed distant views. Luckily there’s one such spot at the top of Coombe Road. Here’s the view from Google Streetview. I’ve labelled the three landmark hills as before.
google maps street view from top of coombe road, by gw
The outlines of No.’s 1-3 are almost the same as in the old photo, but No. 3 is to the left of No.2, so we need to move down Coombe Road to find the spot where No.’s 2 & 3 line-up. Unfortunately, there are no other spots with unobstructed views, so let’s look at old photos of the area to try to identify the mystery building. Here’s a view showing the homes on Coombe Road on its right-hand side.
The largest of the buildings, near the right edge and just above Coombe Road, is “Magdelin Terrace”. It’s roughly the same size as the mystery building, and both are decorated with numerous finials, but this pic shows the front of the building whereas the mystery building is seen from the rear, so we can’t be sure. Although Gwulo doesn’t (yet) have a photo of the rear of Magdelin Terrace, it does have the next best thing – the building plan.
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If we were looking south…
If we were looking south over Homestead, wouldn't the land on the left be on the same level or higher, not the lower level shown above? Also the shape of the building looks different from the view of Homestead shown below, so might this be a different, older building?
Mystery Building
Thanks for posting Annelisec. I agree that it’s not the Homestead Flats, but it’s a grand old building so well worth a bit of effort trying to identify.
Fortunately, the outlines of the distant hills and islands are distinct enough to be recognisable and are very useful in placing the location of the house.
No.1 is the main peak of Ap Lei Chau. No. 2 is Ngai Tau, the hill near the most easterly tip of Lamma Island. The top of another small hill, No. 3, is just visible above the roof of the mystery building. It’s Ap Lei Pai, the tiny island immediately south of and joined to Ap Lei Chau. Fortunately, No.’s 2 & 3 and the mystery building are all in a direct line of sight. So if a straight line is drawn between No.’s 2 & 3, then extended onto Hong Kong Island, it will show the rough location of the mystery house. Here it is.
Due to the scale of the map it’s difficult to see exactly where the line falls, but please believe me it’s around Coombe Road, which runs between Magazine Gap and Wanchai Gap.
Due to the tall vegetation, there aren’t many roadside spots on The Peak with unobstructed distant views. Luckily there’s one such spot at the top of Coombe Road. Here’s the view from Google Streetview. I’ve labelled the three landmark hills as before.
The outlines of No.’s 1-3 are almost the same as in the old photo, but No. 3 is to the left of No.2, so we need to move down Coombe Road to find the spot where No.’s 2 & 3 line-up. Unfortunately, there are no other spots with unobstructed views, so let’s look at old photos of the area to try to identify the mystery building. Here’s a view showing the homes on Coombe Road on its right-hand side.
The largest of the buildings, near the right edge and just above Coombe Road, is “Magdelin Terrace”. It’s roughly the same size as the mystery building, and both are decorated with numerous finials, but this pic shows the front of the building whereas the mystery building is seen from the rear, so we can’t be sure. Although Gwulo doesn’t (yet) have a photo of the rear of Magdelin Terrace, it does have the next best thing – the building plan.
Do you think the mystery building is the same as the one in the plan? I do, but corrections are welcome.