Parkview Mansion, 70 Tai Hang Road [1962-1983]

I have always been fascinated by the big house at 70 Tai Hang Road but was unable to find its identiy. I am very happy to learn that the mystery have been solved by Serene, the granddaughter of the owner. Really look forward to seeing close-up photos of the house after Easter. 

Here's my two cents on the topic to make it more complete: the apartment house that the owner built in 1962 was named "Parkview mansion" 

Closer and from behind

So happy to find this conversation about 70 Tai Hang Road. We lived there between 1970 and late 1972; we then moved to Tokyo. When we first arrived in Hong Kong, the availability of flats like this was limited, so Northwest Airlines, my husband’s employer, housed us at the Hilton Hotel for 6 weeks. The practice at that time was to check the newspaper ads for available rentals, write to the PO Box listed with details our our family and then wait for a reply setting a time for a walk through of the flat. At the time of our inspection, there were holes in the walls where the air conditioners had been removed and only wires hanging from the ceiling where any light fixture had been. It took a while to accumulate the missing necessities and wait for plastering and painting of rooms. We lived on the top floor, on the section that protruded furtherest out. The flat had an excellent view of the harbor and of the hillside to the north which housed the humble dwellings of hundreds of recently arrived mainland Chinese, before the resettlement flats were built. I remember some portions of the ground level being cement; I never imagined a tennis court being there. We called the area surrounding the promitory as the “jungle” because there were wild poinsettias growing and parrots spotted. Reading the Gwulo comments has been great for filling in the missing pieces of old Hong Kong. 

Nice to see people's comments.

We moved to HK in early 1963 and lived in Parkview Mansions up to mid-1965.  I can't recall what floor we lived in but the building and its surroundings was one huge play area for us kids.  

The ground on both sides was labelled the sunny side and the shady side and the landslips that had been cemented over made great slides where I was forever ripping my pants (much to my mother’s annoyance).

The areas covered with undergrowth and greenery we called “the jungle”.  I recall a number of occasions when I scrambled down the slope through the bushes, through the gardens of large houses to the Causeway Bay area.

I also remember, not long after we moved in, finding some large clay urns full of human bones.  As a six year old, I was fascinated by this discovery and I took one of the skulls back home.  I still recall Ah Can (our amah) reacting in outright horror “Ay yay yay!”.  It turned out that the bones were the remains of the ancestors of the Chinese landlords; my parents must have had quite some apologising to do.

I’ve forgotten most of the people names I once knew but I do remember an American family called Lefler.  Also Chris and Rowena Watson and a fellow called Freeman Fessler.

Sadly, pretty much all of our photos have been lost over the years.

In the days before iPhone cameras, photo taking was limited unfortunately. I have often wished I’d taken more photos while we lived at Parkview Mansions. Your mention of the “jungle” made me smile, along with remembering the only flat place other than the parking garage for a 2year old to ride a tricycle. 

Ah, it was all so long ago!

The last time I was at Parkview Mansions was in 1965.

One of many distant memories is the time the lady immediately below us accidentally locked herself out of her apartment.  So my dad tied a sheet to the balcony railings and slid down to the lady's balcony and unlocked the door for her. 
 

HA! That was some drop onto the lower balcony! They were large balconies, but rarely used because of hot afternoon sun beating down

i remember the ease of getting a taxi(Mercedes of course) out front  An easy trip to Central      And having the caretaker tell me I was very lucky to have geckos in the kitchen  As for the gas tank/stove arrangement - it still could cause nightmares  

ps Were the owners of the clay urn full of human bones ever found? 

Memories are hazy at best but I'm pretty sure the clay urns belonged to the family who lived on the top floor and were related to the peeson who designed the building.

We lived on the top floor, but have no memory of ghosts :-)