Photograph taken from the balcony of a high-rise apartment block, I recall was on Kennedy Road. The year would have been about 1968. The view is towards Central and prominent in the photo is the Hilton Hotel and the newly completed Cotton Tree Drive flyover with the Cricket Ground still in place. At bottom-left on the yet to be redeveloped Queensway, the three Victorian-era Naval Yard buildings referred to in David's Story " The Naval Department Buildings. Queen’s Road" are still standing .
I recently found the 35mm negative for this photo in the bottom of a box of miscellaneous papers and photos accumulated since my arrival in Hong Kong in 1965. I have estimated I took this in 1968 but it might have been a year later .
Date picture taken
1968 (year is approximate)
Shows place(s)
Comments
Would it be the Monticello…
Would it be the Monticello at Kennedy Road?
View Towards Central
It might well be Monticello, but I honestly cannot remember. Would I be able to see the HK Football Club Stadium and also towards Happy Valley from Monticello in 1968? I ask ,because i have another photo looking in the other direction and can see these.
Re: Monticello
I think Monticello is a good candidate.
Note the balcony glass door and its upper window arrangement and the tiled balcony wall on the exterior and perhaps on the inside just above the balcony floor. Not the same unit but see here
Occupied in 1966. Back then, the building would have had an unobstructed eastern view of the racecourse from the higher floors.
Google Earth View from Monticello.
Re: Monticello
Thanks moddesy. I will go with Monticello then. I cannot recall the name or even the exact location because I only went to this apartment on one occasion, visiting somebody I had never met before, together with other friends. I am unable to remember who I was with at the time. It was only because I discovered the long-hidden film negatives that triggered a very vague recollection of the circumstances of why I happened to be there. I will upload the other photo later.
I have observed though that the modern photo (in your link to a property agent's listing) of the balcony of a Monticello unit has one significant difference. This is the presence of a solid concrete structural wall on the right side of the balcony and not an open railing, whereas my 1968 photo shows the visible balconies with open railings on both sides. This does not preclude the possibility that perhaps some end units on other floors had walls and not railings ......but unusual . .......
View towards Happy Valley from Kennedy Road