Floor plan of old HK "estate" housing

Submitted by albertng on

Does anyone have old floorplans of Hong Kong's estate housing that were built in the 50s/60s?

Context:

  • I'm having trouble describing to my kids how bare bones (by today's standards) the living space was in those govt estates. Having a floor plan will help
  • I myself lived in North Point Estate in the 70s. It was palatial compared to where my relatives lived in Ho Man Tin Estate and others on Kowloon
  • I'm thinking of buildings like this: https://gwulo.com/media/52145

 

Thank you.

Hi Albert - are you in Hong Kong? Mei Ho House in Shek Kip Mei used to have a ground/first floor museum that covered all aspects of life in a resettlement estate. They used to have a mock-up of a typical apartment room. It may be worth going there for more information.

Regards
Phil 

I might be able to help.  I have sent to Admin (to ask if he can convert to JPEG), two plans of flats drawn up by the Architectural Office, P. W. D. dated November, 1950.

The plan shows each flat has a living room, kitchen, W. C.  

No bedroom is shown but a bed can always be put in the living room.

 

 

Hi there,

I had schoolmates living in both Eastern Block and Centre Block.  A distant elderly relative was living in the Centre Block.  I had also took up Chinese painting tutorial from a teacher living in the Western Block.  All have individual kitchen and the loo.

All units seemed to have windows facing out on the streets where inter-connecting corridors were inside.  The corridors were not covered though.  I vaguely remember there were a few trees inside the Centre Block.

T

If I recall correctly, those buildings with windows facing out and interior corridors were from the second generation.


Weren't there first generation buildings that had a corridor surrounding the building on each floor, and kitchens were outside the units in the corridor (I know how crazy this sounds!), and communal WC down the hall?

Hi There,

Not for North Point Estate.  Those with corridors on the outside had been mostly on Kowloon side.  Shek Kip Mei, Wong Tai Sin, Chi Wan Shan, Tung Tau, Lo Fu Ngam, etc., as mentioned previous in this thread.  Some in Chai Wan as well.

There were other two public estates in North Point, Model Estate and Healthy Estate.  Model Estate still has some older buildings which you may  view in Street View.

Healthy Estate had been re-developed to their next generation buildings.  But you may still be able to look up older photos online.

T

ALBERT - Not much of a floorplan to speak of. It was just an approx. 120 sq ft squarish room with a door and a window opening into the outside corridor. It was designed to accommodate a family of up to 5. I think the end units were slightly larger and were allocated to larger families. If u have a small family, u might have to share a unit with another small family.

https://www.yha.org.hk/en/our-services/mei-ho-house-revitalisation-project/exhibition/

aagg - Do u have the name of the estate or the buildings in the 1950 floor plans?

If each unit had a kitchen and w.c., most likely it would be the one in North Point, the first one with those amenities.

Thomas - The ones u described may be the ones retrofitted in the 70s, such as Mei Ho House. 2 back-to-back units were combined into one by removing the demising wall. The street-facing corridor was enclosed and subdivided to form a kitchen for each unit. A w.c. was also installed in each. Each new unit became (120 + 120 + corridor area) sq ft, similar in size to So Uk and Choi Hung Estates. The courtyard-facing corridor remains unchanged. 

Thanks tkjho/aagg/others for chiming in!

The floorplan I'm looking for is from the earliest govt housing. The buildings look like this photo. I didn't live in one, but remembered visiting one in early 1970s. These buildings were very bare bones. Each unit was just a room: no window, no WC, no kitchen. WC and kitchen were communal at opposite ends of the building. As a kid, I recall asking why people were cooking in the outdoor corridor ... My father thinks this style was still around Wong Tai Sin in 1970s.

Chai Wan estate A and B blocks completed. 1961., by madwith

At the bottom of both plans, it says:

WORKERS FLATS AT SHEUNG  LI UK, KOWLOON.

DATE: 23RD NOVEMBER, 1950

 

One of the plans is the block plan and it shows the flats are in-between Kowloon Road, Po On Road, Shun Ning Road, Pratas Street, Camp Street, Kiu Kiang Street.

Two blocks with four lines of flats in each of the two blocks, so a total of eight lines of flats.

The two blocks each have a CHILDRENS PLAYGROUND with what looks like trees drawn on the edge of the playgrounds.

 

ALBERT - If u go to the link I provided, the 2 small photos under Interpretive Mei Ho House Units are real size mock-ups of those units. The left one was the original. The right one was after the major retrofit, after 2 back-to-back units were combined into one.
This digital exhibition leaflet "Heritage of MEI HO HOUSE' has most of the same info:
https://www.yha.org.hk/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/HMHH-Leaflet-_-2025-V…

aagg - The plans you have is for the Government workers' residences. It would be a lot more upscale and was built for the fortunate ones that got a cushy government job. There was a Lei Cheng Uk Estate nearby with those primitive H-shaped buildings.

tkjho - now I get it! Earlier I was confused why the right unit had a window; but they were just two units combined (and the "window" is really the door of the second unit...)


moddsey - thanks very much!!