12, Repulse Bay Road
Notes from IDJ:
Anyone travelling between Wong Nei Chung Gap and Repulse Bay on a No 6 bus will have seen a very ornate Spanish style house looking out over Deepwater Bay. Situated near the top of the road, it must have been a precursor for the 'Spanish style' village houses favoured in the New Territories from the late 1970s onwards. See related added picture.
The 1924 PWD AR gives the location as " ML 102, section A".
See attached newspaper clipping for opening date, and architect (Palmer & Turner).
The demolition date of 1966 is a guess, based on a 1966 photo which shows an empty lot where the building was demolished. By the time this photo was taken in the late 60s, a new tower block has sprung up in its place:
In photos of Hong Kong from the 1890s, this building is hard to miss - it towers over its neighbours on the seafront.
Details from Emporis:
Emporis also says it was completed in 1948, but I'll go with 1957. That's the year given in a Jardines anniversary publication, with the text "Old Jardine House in Pedder Street is replaced by new Jardine House."
Pedder Building (畢打行) was built in 1923 by the architectural firm of Palmer and Turner. In the pre-Second World War period, most tenants were foreign commercial firms with their headquarters or branches set up in Central. Most tenants evacuated before the Japanese Occupation (1941-1945), and consequently the Japanese and Chinese firms moved in. The building remained intact during the Occupation, and it has always functioned as a commercial building for shops and offices.
Public Records Office
Clavadel was erected in 1893 by Clement Palmer, of the firm of Palmer and Turner, as a dwelling for himself. In that year the property was valued at $720 and attracted a quarterly rate of $19.35.
by 1941 "Clavadel" was valued at $2,580 and rated at 4109.65 a quarter. It was then owned by a Mr. H.R. Forsyth about whom no details are known.
(Ed. Mr. Forsyth died defending Hong Kong - see below)
The opening date comes from an article in the Hong Kong Daily Press, 1886-08-14, pg02, which reported the opening of the Bank's new building on that day. (Though to be 100% correct, the article notes that "although the Bank is being removed into it, the building is far from completed, and it will not be finished, at all events, within six months."
Other notes from the article: