Feature: Hong Kong’s old walk-ups find new lease of life by fandom of New Yorker

By Xinhua writer Liu Yinglun
HONG KONG, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) — On one side of Gage Street in Hong Kong’s Central District, high-rises are taking shape to join the skyscrapers-filled skyline of Hong Kong Island.
Across the street, New Yorker Dare Koslow, 62, and his contractor were discussing which shade of gray wall paint to use for the terrace of an apartment in a 56-year-old five-storey tong-lau — the old walk-up residential building endemic to Hong Kong.
The 508-square-feet apartment is one of some 20 tong-lau units Koslow has bought, renovated and put up for lease since he came to Hong Kong in 1995. His infatuation with tong-laus has blossomed into lifelong endeavors to preserve and revive the architectural legacy of Hong Kong.
“I like to live in older style apartments.” When Koslow first relocated to Hong Kong to continue an advertising career he had pursued in New York City, he lived in a run-of-the-mill high-rise apartment building and felt like he never left New York City.
In a quest for a more typical Hong Kong lifestyle, Koslow discovered Sheung Wan and fell instantly in love with the mix of tong-laus, alleyways, markets and street vendor stalls.
“You could really get lost in it,” Koslow said. “The spontaneity and the surprise element of wandering alleyways and discovering things make an urban experience so interesting.”
Featured in iconic scenes in In the Mood for Love, Echoes of the Rainbow and other Hong Kong movies, tong-laus became prevalent in Hong Kong in the 19th Century. These low-rise buildings with three to five stories of residential units on top of a ground-floor shop were once the hallmark of Hong Kong’s urban landscape, but are now giving way to modern skyscrapers.
“Tong-laus are Hong Kong’s own statement. They represented the character of Hong Kong in the same way courtyard houses would for Beijing and brownstones would for New York City,” Koslow said.
Koslow makes it a mission to preserve or restore the original tong-lau style. One can easily tell which units are Koslow’s in the Gage Street building just by looking at its facade, because Koslow replicated for all of them window security grilles typical of older tong-laus — horizontal iron bars with a chevron dent in the middle across the width of each window.
Some other units feature old floor tiles with geometric patterns, which are “a dream” for Koslow. “I love to find them wherever I can.”
One time he was walking around a demolition site in Wan Chai and stumbled onto dumpsters stuffed with floor tiles with checkered yellow and blueish-green spades taken out from tong-laus.
“I called my contractor right away, because we have tiles to recycle,” holding a hand to his ear in a phone call gesture, Koslow still had the look of hitting the jackpot. With permission, they took the abandoned tiles and laid them on the floor of a unit on Peel Street.
“Then I had the habit of looking over to see if there’s anything interesting every time I go by a dumpster,” said Koslow.
Another reason why Koslow insists on renovating every tong-lau unit is to create homes that he wants to live in, hoping that tenants will inherit the thought of making the brick-and-mortar apartments their homes.
“The apartment’s downtown location is so close to wherever I wanna go, yet it has a historic feel. It’s unique,” said a tenant in sweats entering the building with an armful of groceries.
The preservation of tong-laus has garnered increasing attention in Hong Kong. The Lingnan-style Blue House built in 1922 with wide balconies in Wan Chai won a 2017 UNESCO Asia-Pacific Award of Excellence for Cultural Heritage Conservation. Tong-laus along Wing Lee Street, the location of Echoes of the Rainbow, are now reinvented as communal living spaces.
“I’m happy to be a part of the collective efforts to preserve the history and culture of Hong Kong that can be passed down from one generation to the next,” said Koslow, hoping that his refurbished units will help future generations develop a better understanding of their roots and where they came from.
Having retired from advertising, Koslow now spends most of his time managing his properties, finding materials for renovation and tending to the needs of tenants.
“It’s fun. I enjoy the kind of activity that keeps me busy over here.” Koslow said he couldn’t have the same lifestyle anywhere else outside Hong Kong.
“I really love Hong Kong. It is an international city and a safe city, and it’s a place I’m going to call home for the rest of my life.” ■