hen people think of Hong Kong, what

often comes to mind are large crowds,

tiny flats, and newly-developed high-

rise buildings. People certainly don’t

think of spacious houses or well-

protected heritage buildings. So it may come as

a surprise to many to find Felix Villas, a group of

eight preserved townhouses in the neo-

Georgian style, located on Mount Davis Road on

the south side of the island.

Built in 1922, Felix Villas is named for its

builder, Felix Alexander Joseph. The houses

were briefly used as Japanese mil itary

headquarters during World War II before they

were sold to the University of Hong Kong in

1957. Now, the villas are used as housing for

university professors and are also leased to

private individuals. Recently, HKU approached

interior decorator and founder of Compass

Worldwide Deborah von Eldik to renovate one of

the villas, completed this past June.

Entering the house, which has an area close

W

PERSPECTIVE

INTERIORS Felix Villas / Hong Kong

054 055PERSPECTIVE

A new lease of lifeOne of the newly-refurbished Felix Villas residences shows that high-risedevelopments are not the only option for living in Hong Kong

text: gabriella leephotography: dicky liu

to 4,000 sq-ft, it is immediately apparent that

this is not typical Hong Kong housing. With 15-ft

ceilings (from a pre-air conditioning era) and

original teak floors, the house retains much of

its historic charm. Still, a lot of work was put in

to preserve the property. “The idea was that we

upgrade the premises, particularly the

bathrooms and kitchens, so that they could be

let,” says von Eldik.

Of the whole house, the most modern parts

are the kitchen and the bathroom. But just

because the kitchen is stocked with the newest

appliances and the bathrooms have heated

towel racks and rain forest showers, doesn’t

mean that the heritage feel is completely lost. In

general, von Eldik worked hard to maintain it by

“making new things look old”.

For instance, in the bathrooms, she

searched for ‘old-fashioned’ sanitary ware and

used dull finished tiles on the walls, while in the

kitchen, she chose cabinetry with glass panels

to complement the panelled doors.

PERSPECTIVE

INTERIORS Felix Villas / Hong Kong

057PERSPECTIVE056

This is not typical Hong Kong housing. With 15-ftceilings (from a pre-air conditioning era) andoriginal teak floors, the house retains much of itshistoric charm

This idea of finding new things that look old

is also reflected in the lightings, fittings and

mouldings. “Quite frankly, now it’s a little easier

because traditional fittings are coming back in,”

says von Eldik. At the same time though, she

was also able to preserve many original

features, such as the old switches, the original

Canton tiles on the balcony, the fans with

torque blades (rather than flat blades), and the

original doorstopper.

None of this could have occurred if the

house wasn’t already well maintained and,

besides regular upkeep, von Eldik says that a

good way to preserve an old house is to have

people live in it and get air moving through the

house to prevent mould and decay. “An old

house like this is so solidly built, it should go on

for a long time,” she says. “There shouldn’t

really be a reason to raze or tear it down.

“One of the drivers keeping these houses

going are the vast rents you can get for them,

and so it’s worth keeping it for that very

purpose — there are plenty of expats coming

in over the next 20 years as China continues

to develop.”

She notes that most westerners and

expatriates in Hong Kong “don’t want to live in

‘cookie cutter’ apartments where everybody’s

flat is the same. It’s human nature; they want to

differentiate themselves from others.”

But what is so special about a heritage

building anyway? Well, for one thing, as von

Eldik points out, there aren’t very many of them.

More importantly though, she says, is their

unique character and charm. “Hong Kong has

lost a great deal of its architectural history and

it's a great shame because people really do like

the character of these old places,” she says.

“When I first talked to the university about

this, I said, ‘Listen, keep it in character, don’t try

to modernise it.’ I mean, you can’t put a bikini on

your grandma. It wouldn’t look right.”

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INTERIORS Felix Villas / Hong Kong

058

談到香港，腦海裡浮現的景像不是人山人

海，就是﹁蚊型﹂住宅和新建的摩天大

廈，絕不會是大屋或備受保護的歷史建築。所

以，福利別墅或會令許多人感到意外，因為這八

間位於港島南區摩星嶺道的聯建住宅，以新喬治

亞式風格建成，是保存甚佳的舊住宅建築。

福利別墅建於19

22

年，以建造者F

elix

Ale

xan

de

rJ

ose

ph

的名字來命名。這些別墅在

二次大戰期間曾用作日本的軍事總部，在19

57

年

賣了給香港大學。現時，這些別墅是大學教授的

宿舍，部分則作為私人住宅出租。最近，香港大

學找來C

om

pa

ssW

orld

wid

e

創辦人兼室內設計

師De

bo

rah

von

Eld

ik

翻新其中一間別墅。別墅

今年六月完成改裝，以新面貌示人。

房子的面積大約4

00

0

平方呎，一走進屋內

便察覺到這裡絕非典型的港式房屋。別墅於空調

尚未面世的年代建成，樓底高達15

尺，原來的袖

木地板仍在，散發出來的歷史味道與原來相差不

遠。不過，D

ebo

rah

仍下了苦工來修繕房子，說

道：﹁整個概念是要把住宅升級，尤其是浴室和

廚房，讓房子達到出租的水平。﹂

要說全屋最現代化的區域，便是廚房和浴

室。不過，雖然廚房配備了最新的電器用具、浴

室又有暖手毛巾架和淋浴間，兩處的歷史感仍絲

毫不失。整體而言，D

ebo

rah

把新物品弄得古舊

感十足，竭力保持空間的復古味道。

例如，D

eb

orah

為浴室找來復古的潔具，牆

壁則鋪上飾料暗啞的磚瓦。在廚房，她則挑選鑲

上玻璃板的廚櫃，配襯鑲框式的門。

這種﹁新物舊貌﹂的概念亦應用於燈飾、傢

具陳設和裝飾板條。D

ebo

rah

說：﹁老實說，現

在較為簡單方便，因為傳統設計的傢具陳設又再

度興起。﹂不過，與此同時，D

ebo

rah

亦復修了

許多原來的設計，包括舊電制開關、露台原來的

廣東磚、旋轉扇葉︵非扁平扇葉︶的風扇，以及

原來的門擋。

倘若房子不是保養得好，上述的種種原設計

都沒可能重現光采。D

ebo

rah

指除了定期的維修

外，長期有人居於屋內、讓室內空氣流通來防霉

防蛀蝕，亦是保養舊屋的好方法。她說：﹁這種

舊房子建造得很結實，應該可以再屹立多年，真

的沒理由要將它推倒拆卸。﹂

她續說：﹁其中一個促使這些房子繼續保留

的原因，是它們能為業主帶來豐厚的租金收

入。為此，很值得繼續保留房子。中國還會繼

續進步發展，未來2

0

年還會有許多外籍人士移

居來這裡。﹂

De

bo

rah

亦說：﹁香港大多外籍人士都不想

住在﹁倒模﹂建成、一式一樣的住宅。這是人的

本性。他們想與別人不同，展現個性。﹂

說到底，究竟歷史建築有甚麼特別？正如

Deb

orah

所道，其中一個過人之處是現時沒有剩

下太多同類建築。D

ebo

rah

亦指出，更重要的特

點是這些歷史建築有其獨特風格和魅力。她說：

﹁香港許多的歷史建築都已經消失不見。這真的

很可惜，因為有很多人真的很喜歡這些古舊建築

的味道。﹂

她續說：﹁當我首次與大學談到這個項目，

我就說﹃聽著，我們要保留房子的特質，不要將

之現代化。﹄。我的意思是說，你不能迫著你的

袓母穿比堅尼泳裝吧？只會看來怪怪的。﹂

福利別墅一間剛復修的住宅告訴大家，

要在香港生活不一定只可選擇高樓住宅

撰文：g

abriella

lee

攝影：d

ickyliu

舊居新生

一