Text / Mr. Chan Tin Kuen
The squatter area at Tai Hom Village had housed 1,700 households; its demolition was over by 2001, leaving only three historic buildings behind. They include Old Pillbox, the former Royal Air Force hangar, and the Stone House No. 4 in Tai Koon Yuen (a film production studio and movie school), they were known as the "Three Treasures of Tai Hom Village”. This piece of land had been left idle for over ten years, until the Shatin to Central Link (SCL) began construction, and the expansion and modification works in the MTR Diamond Hill Station and SCL depot started in mid-April 2013, sadly, two out of three treasures had to be removed, leaving only the Stone House No. 4 which was the house of the late movie star Roy Chiao.
In the past, many of us did not know about the historic buildings hiding in the squatter areas, they are only revealed after the demolition of the squatters. One of them was a semi-circular pillbox, built in the 1930s to protect the Kai Tak Airport; it is one of the few historical military structures remaining within the urban area of Hong Kong. Another building is a metal scaffolding barricaded shed, which served as the Royal Air Force hangar. It was built in 1934, and dismantled during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong. In 1943 it was rebuilt in its present location to hold a fleet of "Zero Fighters." After the Japanese was defeated and left Hong Kong, the British took it over, but later let the public use it for other purposes, including warehousing and feedstock production etc.
After the war, a developer ventured into constructing 22 two-storey stone houses with private gardens, and sold them to celebrities and wealthy merchants, the name Tai Koon Yuen came from the famous Chinese novel The Dream of Red Chamber. In the 1960s, Tai Koon Yuen and the nearby land had become a habitat for the immigrants from mainland China, and gradually turning into squatter areas. The original residents moved away one after another, and some stone houses were demolished (including Stone House No. 5 where the famous movie director Mr. Li Han-hsiang stayed), while some remained intact but served as dwelling for new occupants. As seen from Stone House No. 4, the only one left, a galvanized-iron hut was added on the roof for another family, it is estimated that several families were crammed into one stone house after the original owner left.
MTR said that the construction of the Diamond Hill Station has inevitably affected the former RAF Hangar (Grade III) and Old Pillbox (Grade II), given the undesirable structural condition of the hanger, plus the fact that it contains asbestos material, it cannot be returned to its original condition after removal. The Old Pillbox structure is better; it can be restored and displayed in a suitable location in the future.
(Published in 2015)
