Stories behind Hong Kong street names: Rednaxela Terrace and its famous resident
Street in Mid-Levels was named after its original owner but the name was mysteriously written backwards; it is best known as the address of Jose Rizal, the Philippine revolutionary hero and polymath
If you find the name of Rednaxela Terrace in lower Mid-Levels slightly peculiar, you’re not the only one. The terrace is actually named after the original owner, a Mr Alexander, but it was transcribed backwards.
(We cannot find out whether it was a mistake by a street sign painter or the clerk who registered the name. But given it’s the only street sign in Hong Kong spelled backwards, the person responsible was probably fired very soon.)
While Alexander was its original owner, the terrace is famous for another reason: it was where Philippine revolutionary hero Jose Rizal briefly lived. Like several other revolutionaries, such as Sun Yat-sen and Ho Chi Minh, Rizal found Hong Kong a safe haven for political activism.
He called No.2 Rednaxela Terrace home from December 1891 to June 1892. During his brief time there, he operated an ophthalmology clinic on D’Aguilar Street, Central.
