TWO NEW
APARTMENTS
ON
MACDONnell
ROAD
LIT
HOTLY
ATT
Yip Mansions with typical floor plan
Every block of apartments erected in Hong Kong means that every resident who can afford to pay a reasonable rental will ultimately be able to find a flat to suit his pocket. Macdonnell Road is a particularly desirable residential locality, being conveniently close to the centre of town and yet at a high enough level to afford a very pleasant outlook of the Harbour and Kowloon and the Botanic Gardens, and provide excellent breezes from the Peak district to the south of it.
A number of very fine apartment houses have recently been completed on this thoroughfare and amongst the more attractive of them are the two which were designed by the same architect, Mr. T. C. Yuen, and built by the same con- tractors, Messrs. Hsin Chong & Co., for two different owners.
They are both very attractively designed with certain points of similarity which identify them as being the work of one man, but this is inevitable in the case of two buildings almost equal in size, used for the same purpose and in the same neighbourhood, the peculiarities of which dictate the form and plan best calculated to utilize its advantages to the utmost.
The long balconies, which extend practically the full length of the front facade and which give the tenants of each apartment every opportunity to avail themselves of the beautiful view, become the architectural feature of each build- ing and the symmetrical recurrence of their horizontal lines rounded at each end, repeated the full height of the six floors, results in a structure that gives tone to the neighbourhood and reflects great credit on the originality and ability of the architect.
The plans reproduced on these pages show how compact the apartments are and how little space has been wasted on corridors and passageways. Detailed descriptions of each building follow:-
YIP MANSIONS-Nos. 16 & 18 Macdonnell Rd.
1.
Reinforced concrete framed structure.
2. Six storeys containing 12 apartments, plus garages in the basement at street level with one car space to each apartment.
3. The building features a central staircase with Insulux glass block panel and precast ornaments extending the full height.
4. Facing tiles from Shanghai decorate the front balconies and terraces.
5. External finish of artificial stone plaster and stucco.
6. Coloured distemper to all main rooms and oil paint to bathrooms and pantries.
7. Each apartment consists of 3 bedrooms, 1 living room. 1 dining room, with entrance lobby, pantry, kitchen and servants rooms.
8. Two bathrooms both equipped with best quality American Standard sanitary fittings and fixtures, one attached to the master bedroom and one serves two other bedrooms.
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11.
EIKLEN
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LIVING
ELAKA
9. Two built-in closets provided to each bedroom with shelves, hanging rods, shoe racks, drawers and cupboards,
10. The servants toilet is equipped with one basin and one water-closet.
11. Flushing system works by gravity and consists of one intake at a nearby nullah, one pipeline and one storage tank on the roof. The water is collected at the intake, flows through the pipeline, goes up to the storage tank on the roof, which is at a lower level than the intake, and supplies the different cisterns through distributing pipes. No mechanical devices are used, resulting in an installation economical to install and maintain and unlikely to go out of order.
12.
Hot water is supplied by electric heaters, one 40- gallon heater servicing the two adjacent bathrooms. The heater itself is housed in separate built-in closet which also provides shelves for towels and a receptacle for soiled clothes. 13. One 11-gallon heater directly over, and supplying, the sink in the kitchen.
14.
Cold water points provided to all tubs, basins, sinks, kitchens and garages.
15. One garbage chute with trap doors at each of the landings of the back stairs for the disposition of garbage.
16. Vertical transportation is provided by one Otis Collective Control Automatic lift, supplemented by one main staircase at the front entrance and a service stair at the back.
17. All metal windows and French doors of Crittall manufacture in hot-dip galvanised finish.
18. All internal doors are machine-pressed lauan faced flush doors manufactured by the Woodcraft Works in Shanghai, finished in lacquer and equipped with Schlage locks.
19. Teak parquet flooring, window boards, curtain boxes and picture rails to all main rooms.
20. Mosaic tile floor to balconies with glazed tile dado to all bathrooms and pantries.
21. Wrought iron grilles and collapsible gates to all windows and French doors on the ground floor and pipe handrails to all balconies and terraces.
22. Sliding doors provided to all garages.
23. The main staircase treads and risers are of teak, with precast terrazzo panelled walls and flooring to the main entrance.
24. All electric wiring concealed in conduit.
25. Both electric and gas supply is provided for cooking. 26. A two-storeyed service block for male servants built separately at the backyard with proper segregation from the main building.