Villa Blanca [????-c.2016]

I walked past there last week and thought it looked interesting, so thanks for adding the place. Here are the AMO's notes as part of their proposal to give it Grade II status:

Historic Building Appraisal: Villa Blanca, No. 47 Barker Road.

Historical Interest: The exact year of contribution of No. 47 Barker Road has not been established. The 75-year lease started from 1899, but the style of the house suggests it was built in the 1930s. There may have been an earlier building on the site. The site was first leased to Mollers’ Lands Limited in 1899, and the lease was extended by a further 75 years in 1974. The building was then sold to Mr. Haking Wong (黃克競), a famous industrialist of Hong Kong, in 1978. Since 1998, the building has been owned by Chung Hai-yen and Wong Siu-ling.

Architectural Merit: The name of the house, Villa Blanca (White House), and the architectural style are Spanish. The house is built on a sloping site above Barker Road with granite foundations and sturdy retaining walls. Entry to the house is via a flight of curved steps from Barker Road. There appears to be no vehicular access. The sloping site determines the number of storeys which changes from three storeys to single storey from front to back. The walls are finished with painted roughcast rendering and the roofs are low pitched finished with imported Roman tiles. Architectural features include arched windows, ornamental ironwork, decorative “fish scale” pattern panels in the balcony balustrading and curved cantilevered balconies and canopies in Modernist style. The walls are painted in yellow ochre and the architectural features are picked out in white.

Rarity, Built Heritage Value & Authenticity: The Spanish Villa style has become quite common in the New Territories in the last 30 years, but it is rare to find a building of this style from the pre-war years especially on the Peak. The building therefore has some built heritage value. It  appears to have undergone fairly extensive renovations recently so that
its authenticity may have been impaired.

Social Value & Local Interest: The style of architecture which has been adopted suggests a relaxed, informal style of living making the villa rather different from other pre-war houses on the Peak. As one of the older buildings still left it has local interest representing early development of the area.

Group Value: Sited among pleasant greenery, Villa Blanca enjoys a quiet and private environment and connects with other private residential villas in the area. It is physically close to items graded by the Antiquities and Monuments Office, the Peak Depot (山頂倉庫Grade II) and Old Peak Café (舊山頂餐廳Grade II). The Magazine Gap Sub-Station and Peak Tramways Co. Ltd. (山頂纜車有限公 司) are also located in near distance. Other historic buildings situated in the Peak district include the Former Gate Lodge (舊總督山頂別墅守衛室, Declared Monument), Former Peak School (前山頂學校, Grade II), Peak Police Station (山頂警署, Grade III) and Matilda and War Memorial Hospital (明德醫院, Grade III).

Adaptive Re-use: The internal layout of the villa is not known so that it is difficult to suggest an adaptive re-use. The best use for it is probably residential for which it was originally intended.

Remarks: Villa Blanca has not been graded, but it is one of the items recorded by the Antiquities and Monuments Office.

I walked past here on Saturday and was surprised to see it has been demolished: