Hongkonger comes full circle to find home in the apartment block she grew up in
When the opportunity arose to buy a flat in the same block where she was raised, Fiona Jacob didn’t think twice before taking the plunge
As far as home is concerned, make-up artist Fiona Jacob has come full circle. Six years ago, she returned to the same block of flats in North Point in which she grew up and where her mother and brother still live. When the opportunity arose to buy her own place in the complex, she and her husband, Ian, pounced on it even though the flat in question hadn’t been updated for 30 years.
“It was a disaster when we viewed it because it had been owned by successive landlords who hadn’t actually lived there and consequently hadn’t spent any money on it,” says Ian, an engineer from New Zealand. “Old pipes were leaking through to the neighbour’s property, windows had been bricked up, the bedrooms were dark and dingy, and there was only a tiny enclosed kitchen. What we now have as our balcony had been filled in illegally.”
The 1,690 sq ft flat is a shining example of advance planning. The couple trawled through magazines for ideas, distilling them down to design elements that ticked both aesthetic and practical boxes. Once they had worked things out conceptually, they enlisted architect Alfred Leung, of Universal Reliance.
Working closely with Ian, Leung took the place back to a shell. He made the guest bedroom/study smaller to enlarge two en-suite bathrooms, one of which is connected to the bedroom of the couple’s daughter, Kira, now eight years old. Windows were unblocked and the illegal outer wall was removed, creating outdoor space.
“Alfred and I were a great combination,” says Ian. “I knew what I wanted but he would tell me straight up whether it would work or not. He did all the detailing, which I would never have thought about, such as stainless-steel trim around the door frames.”
It was Leung who came up with the idea for white panelling across one wall in the living room, to add texture and to disguise the entrance to the master bedroom. The only other door in the room celebrates Hong Kong’s maritime association, with a porthole, which allows light through to the two other bedrooms.