A beautifully preserved historic Italian renaissance mansion on The Peak with a profusion of architectural details in baroque fashion. Sounds too good to be true? And it was, an embarrassed Antiquities and Monuments Office discovered recently after proposing historic status for it.
The original mansion was demolished in 1990, making the present building less than 20 years old.
The mistake could have been avoided if the monuments office had checked building records, which would have shown the original 1940s building had been redeveloped.
The mansion at 15 Middle Gap Road, Wan Chai, is owned by tycoon Michael Jebsen, who is chairman of Jebsen & Co. Jebsen, who lives in the mansion with his family, could not be reached for comment yesterday.
The executive secretary of the monuments office, Tom Ming Kay-chuen, said yesterday the office had decided to withdraw its proposal to declare the building a grade-two historic site.
'Our staff were looking at its appearance [and thought it was heritage]. They found no building plan was recorded in the Land Registry,' he said. 'But then after the owner sent us an objection against our proposal of grading, we learnt from the Buildings Department the original building had been demolished.'