Number 35 Barker Road - residence of JB Ipekdjian and Dorothy

h9430500
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Number 35 Barker Road - residence of JB Ipekdjian and Dorothy

Me and my brother over looking the peak tram, left hand side the house is number 45, Barker Road - Haking Mansions (Mr Wong Haking was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1968 )

Date picture taken
1966
Shows place(s)
455 The Peak, R.B.L. 150 (second generation) [c.1952-1978]
Villa Blanca [????-c.2016]
Plantation Road / Barker Road Station, Peak Tram [????- ]
Ligoniel / The Farm - RBL 101 [????-????]
The Peak Tram, upper terminus [1888- ]
Glenshiel - Epworth Lodge (1949) [????- ]
Mount Austin Mansions [????-????]
22 Mt. Austin Road [1962- ]
Shows street(s)
Barker Road [1898- ]

Comments

You mention Haking Mansions in your photo. In c.1901, a house named The Cottage was built on this lot. It was likely looted during WW2 and rebuilt in the late 1940s. In 2001, a new Haking Mansion was constructed which still stands.

Do you know anything about this post-war building? Mainly the construction date. Also, was it built by Mr. Haking?

Haking family members were very kind to me, i had meals in the Villa Blanca, it was no.47 and no.43 then which consist of 2 lots, the Villa and a multi storey apartment.

Haking bought it from the shipper Eric Moller in the early 1960, Moller came to Shanghai in 1919 and his family fleeded Shanghai after the Communist took over, i believe Moller built the Villa Blanca.

The Moller Villa in Shanghai still standing today on no.30 South Shanxi Road-Shanghai, i had meals there multiple times. Also built by Moller.
 

Hi  h9430500, thanks for replying. I'm currently working on the timeline for the houses Barker Road 35 -45. As said above, I'm quite sure that all pre-war buildings were looted during WW2 and had to be rebuilt after the war.

What about the house where you lived? We have a 1930s photo of the pre-war building (455 The Peak) shown below (on the right):

Barker Road Houses 1930(?), by Klaus

And one from 1956 (center right):

11-Hong Kong 1966_0051.jpg, by kesayian

In my opinion, the two houses are different, and the one shown in the 1956 photograph was likely built after the war. What do you think about that?

Jean Baptiste Ipekdjian bought 35 Barker Road in 1948.

Before 1948, Felix Maurice Ellis, a Hong Kong-born Jewish stock broker, lived there from 1920.

In July 1940, he joined the Hong Kong Volunteer Army as a corporal. After the fall of Hong Kong, he was imprisoned in Sham Shui Po.

He died of a heart attack in his office in 1949 and was buried in the Happy Valley Jewish Cemetery.

From January to October 1949, Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, and Guangzhou were occupied by the Communists.

In September 1949, the British pound depreciated by 30%, and the stock markets in Shanghai, Beijing, and Tianjin were closed, reopening only in 1990.

John Baptist 'JB' Ipekdjian
1900-1974

He was born on 22 June 1900, in Diocese of Antwerp, Belgium, his father, Mihran Ipekdjian, was 37 and his mother, Makrine Takvorian, was 22.

He married Dorothy Inez Jones on 10 September 1935, in Shanghai, China.

They were the parents of 1 daughter.
Maureen Angustias Ipekdjian

Dorothy Inez Jones was born on 27 July 1907-1972, in Manila, Metro Manila, Philippines, her father, Shiras Morton Jones, was 26 and her mother, Mary Alice Reynolds, was 35. 

The 1938 Street Index gives the name "Mirador" for the building 455 The Peak (later 35 Barker Road). Have you ever heard of this name?

Mirador is a Spanish word meaning balcony or lookout —both terms that aptly describe the house’s location.

Dear Klaus, 

No idea on Mirador. But you asked earlier about the Cottage on Barker Road, i believe it was at the Epworth Lodge 51 Barker Road location, by the Barker Road Tram Station.

After Felix Maurice Ellis bought 35 Barker Road in 1920, in between 1920 and 1948, the house had been rebuilt once, and after JB bought it in 1948 the house was torn down and rebuilt between 1950 to 1953 approx.

I remember it was around 1965 (approx.) I met Nancy Kwan at Number 35 Barker Road.  It was a party with many Barker Road guests, she later on bought me a gift - A Cased Pony Express Presentation Model Colt Peacemaker Revolver:

Number 35 Barker Road - residence of JB Ipekdjian and Dorothy, by h9430500