Signboard storm as historic Wan Chai building gets a new face
Member of family who lived and worked in Ship Street, Wan Chai, for three generations is angry as their original signage at No 18 is covered up
Businessman David Tse Sik-hung was shocked when he saw the facade of the historic house in Wan Chai he had lived in for 30 years covered by a large signboard that was deemed an illegal structure.
He wrote immediately to two government departments as well as the Urban Renewal Authority, which sold the house to a developer's subsidiary, to complain about the situation at 18 Ship Street - but to no avail.
"If you allow a tenant to rent a heritage building and renovate it just like any other building, that is defeating the purpose" of conservation, Tse said.
"When people who are tracing their origins arrive here, they won't know what the history and function of the building is."
The three-storey house, built in 1937, was erected in a shophouse-veranda style typical of its time. It was confirmed as a grade-two historic building in 2009, meaning effort should be made to selectively preserve it.
Tse's family had used the commercial cum residential building for three generations. While the family business sold building materials on the ground floor, the two other floors were used for residential purposes.