Subject : The most Chill tenement house in the 1940s on Huangjie Street in the Central and Upper Ring Roads.
中上環城皇街最Chill 40年代唐樓 露台被老樹覆蓋仿如「綠洲」
The terrace is covered by old trees like an "oasis"
Legend has it that in the early years of Hong Kong's opening, there were 30 private houses on the hillside of Victoria City. The houses are lit at night to guide the fishing boats home. According to literature records, everyone called this place Sanjian.
The tenement buildings that were lit back then gradually turned into high-rise buildings to surround the place. Chenghuang Street and Wing Lee Street, where "The Thief of Time" was filmed in 2010, were originally included in the scope of reconstruction. However, because the owners of Nos. 17 to 19, Shing Wong Street insisted not to sell the buildings, this place became a "time-space gap in Central" that retains the feeling of 1940. After the film was screened, it also aroused everyone's reluctance to the old community, which turned into a conservation plan for this community. The streets have been repaired cleanly, and the neighbors also have the consciousness to protect this century-old block.
If Aberdeen Street is used as the boundary, Shing Wong Street belongs to Sheung Wan. A 70-year-old tenement building in the center of the street was renovated in the early years, with green floor-to-ceiling subway grilles and a small terrace. The morning sun slips into the house through the shadow of the trees, and the birds are stealing the herbs on the terrace. Residents live between Central and Sheung Wan, who would have imagined that looking out of the window, the IFC in Central is within easy reach.
Taura from the United States has lived in Hong Kong for 23 years. She has lived in subdivided flats and lofts. When she lived in a single private building on Aberdeen Street, 200 feet away, she had already taken a fancy to this 70-year-old building surrounded by tall buildings. Old Tanglou. Two years ago, I finally had the opportunity to rent one of the units. Although there is no fiber optic here, the pipes are aging and must be used carefully. Every time I go home, I walk up or down hundreds of stairs: "Indeed, I have to calculate the itinerary every time I go shopping , should I go up the stairs to Jiandao first, and then go around Luoshan and take the stairs back after shopping, or is it the other way around? But now I can carry 15kg of things back at a time, and my physical strength is fine, but I don’t wear high heels anymore.”
Vincent grew up in Central, but his friends always asked him, "Where is the place to live in Central?" Li "Shi Dongpo Cultural Scholars", on the surface, is a small shop selling vintage items. In fact, they hold art exhibitions, book signings, screenings here from time to time, and also consign new works of cultural people. He will set up tables and chairs in the middle of the stairs, and neighbors will pass by, or they will sit down and drink water when they are tired from walking, and then chat together. He believes that to preserve a community naturally, as long as the old streets and old houses are repaired and the residents are allowed to live freely, a shop with human touch and vitality will naturally be bred.
Vincent enjoys a slow life in Central, while Alvin, who lives in Kowloon, falls in love with the nostalgic and quiet neighborhood of Central and Sheung Wan. He confessed that when he was a child, he never felt the beauty of these old streets and alleys, but when he returned from studying abroad, he saw that the Graham Street market that he used to visit when he was a child was transformed into luxury houses. The same place. Only small shops in the community can create the character of a region. If those old shops are not taken over by the city, or they are overturned by the city and become chain stores, it will be difficult to connect the human touch of the neighborhood.” So he spent two years traveling between Central and Sheung Wan The old shops and the Graham Street Market, sketched for small shops, and recorded his favorite old streets.
This is the story of three Hong Kong people of different ages and backgrounds enjoying this oasis next to Central with three faces.
/ 中上環城皇街最Chill 40年代唐樓 露台被老樹覆蓋仿如「綠洲」 傳說香港開埠初年，維多利亞城的山坡上有30間民房。民房晚上點燈，給漁船引路回家。文獻記載，大家叫這裡做卅間。 當年點燈的唐樓，慢慢變成高樓大廈將這裡包圍，城皇街與2010年拍攝《歲月神偷》的 永利街，本被列入重建範圍。但因為城皇街17號至19號的業主堅持不賣樓，讓這裡成為留住1940年感覺的「中環時空狹縫」。電影放映後，也引出大家對老社區的不捨，結果變成這個社區的保育計劃。街道被整修得乾乾淨淨，街坊也有自覺，要保護這道百年街區。 若以鴨巴甸街做分界，城皇街屬上環。街中心的一座樓齡70的老唐樓早年翻修，綠色落地鐵窗花，小巧的露台。朝早陽光透過樹影溜進屋內，小鳥在偷吃露台的香草。居民往來中上環間生活，誰能想像，推窗外看，中環IFC近在咫尺。 美國來的Taura在香港住了23年，她住過劏房和閣樓，當她住在鴨巴甸街200呎單棟私樓時，已看中這座被高樓包圍，有70年歷史的老唐樓。兩年前終於有機會租住其中一單位，雖然這裡無光纖，喉管老化要好小心使用，每次回家往上或下走上百級樓梯： 「的確，我每次購物都要計算好行程，是先上樓梯往堅道，再繞落山買完走樓梯回來，還是反過來呢？不過我現在一次可搬15kg的東西回來，體力好沒問題，只是不再穿高跟鞋而已。」 Vincent從小在中環長大，但朋友都問他：「乜中環有得住嘅咩？」「呢度只係冇屋邨，但有好多小屋民居。」他幫忙朋友，在城皇街17號地下打理「軾Ｄongpo文化士多」，表面上是間賣復古舊物的小店，實質上他們不時在這裡辦畫展、簽書會、放映會，也寄賣文化人的新作品。他會在樓梯中央擺出桌椅，街坊路過，或者走累了會坐下休息飲水，然後一起聊天。他覺得，要自然保育一個社區，只要把老街老屋修好，讓居民自由生活，自然會孕育出有人情味及生命力的舖頭。 Vincent在中環邊垂享受慢活，而住九龍的Alvin愛上中上環懷古，又寧靜的社區。他坦言，小時候從不覺這些老街老巷有何美感，但在外讀書歸來，看見小時候常去的嘉咸街街市旁都變成豪宅，老街極速整修了，他說： 「我怕香港變成一式一樣的地方。社區小店才能營造一個地區的性格，如果那些老店沒人接手，或被城市推倒，變成連鎖店，那麼街坊人情味都難以連結起來了。」於是他花兩年時間，往來中上環的老店及嘉咸街街市，為小店寫生，記錄他喜歡的老街。 這是三個不同年代與背景的香港人，以三個面貌，享受這個位處中環旁邊的綠洲的故事。