The Shaw Studios at Clear Water Bay, with a history of more than 60 years, was once the world's largest privately-owned movie studio, and it was also the former "Dream Workshop". Many of its buildings have been rated as historical buildings.
However, following the owner's application for conversion to residential and hotel projects, which was approved by the Town Planning Board, the studio has been "deboned" recently, and many buildings have been razed and demolished. The first generation of "Oriental Hollywood" has officially entered into history.
Run Run Shaw established the Shaw Studios after buying the land that year.
The entire studio can be divided into three parts: a commercial area, a production area, and a residential area. It is like a self-sufficient town, so it is called a "cinema", but it needs to be demolished and rebuilt.
(Information Picture/Photographed by Li Zetong)
Most of the buildings on the site have been demolished, especially the central part of the site, which is now nearly flat, involving many historical buildings.
(Photo by Liang Pengwei)
Become a residential hotel after reconstruction
The Shaw Studios was opened in 1961 and is of great historical value. In addition to the entire studio being rated as a first-class historical building, there are also more than a dozen historical buildings with different ratings in the studio.
However, the owner Fosun International applied to the Urban Planning Board for conversion into a residential and hotel project in the early years. It planned to provide 749 residential units and 183 hotel rooms at the site, and it was approved by the Urban Planning Board in March 2019.
▼Comparison of some buildings that can be retained▼
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The production department has been removed
The reconstruction plan has been in preparation for many years. According to the reporter’s on-site observations, many buildings on the site have been demolished, especially the central part of the site, which has been nearly razed to the ground. Many of the demolished buildings are historical buildings, such as the production department. , Multiple video studios, purchasing department, etc., they have different ratings.
With reference to the development plan, the office is being incorporated into the Private Residential Development Area (Private Residential Development Area).
After the production department was renovated in the 1970s, part of the space was changed to the teaching venue for training courses. As for the studios No. 7-10, which were also demolished, the construction materials came from a decommissioned hangar at Kai Tak Airport at that time.
However, the application documents of that year indicated that some of the exterior walls and representative elements of the No. 1 Video Studio, the color printing room, the production department and the Shaw Villa will be preserved to reflect the different parts of the film production process, but As far as the reporter saw at the scene, the production department had been taken away.
▼Comparison of demolished buildings▼
No. 2 dormitory was demolished, Zheng Peipei once moved in
Dormitory No. 2, which was rated as a Grade 2 historic building, has also been leveled.
Although according to the reconstruction plan, part of the building can be retained, including three dormitories and guard rooms, the second dormitory has now been demolished and will be turned into a seven-story building in the future.
Looking through the information, the second dormitory was originally set up to house a large number of film industry personnel recruited by Shaw from Taiwan. The residents include director Yan Jun and Li Lihua and his wife, and actor Zheng Peipei.
The dormitories that will be retained include dormitory No. 3, formerly known as "Dun Hou Building". The dormitory is used for the movie stars and directors who were ordered to live at that time. Liu Yong, Wan Ziliang, Yee Dongsheng, Hui Yinghong, Liu Jiahui, etc., and director Zhang Che, etc. Used to be a resident of the building.
As for the other dormitory No. 4, the artist Wang Jie lived there with his father, Wang Xia, who was an actor on the Shaw Brothers studio during his childhood.
The administration building, Katakura, and dubbing room are reserved
However, part of the historical buildings are also preserved at the current site, including the Shaw Administration Building, Katakura, and the dubbing room.
The application documents have stated that it will be converted into a commercial facility that includes a cultural relic display venue in the future.
The Shaw Studios' reconstruction plan has been in preparation for more than ten years, and construction has recently begun.
(Photo by Liang Pengwei)
The redevelopment plan has been in preparation for many years and the owners have opposed the rating
The Shaw Studios was built in stages by Sir Run Run Run, a leading media player. It covers an area of more than 600,000 square feet and contains more than 20 buildings.
As early as 2015, the Guzihui had rated the studio as a first-class historical building as a whole.
However, the Antiquities Office has received objections from the studio owners, saying that the objections were rated for the entire studio.
In fact, the Shaw Studios’ redevelopment plan has been in preparation for more than ten years. As early as 2006 and 2014, they have applied for the development of the project into a commercial and residential project.
In 2015, the Guzihui rated the entire Shaw Studios as a first-class historical building. On that day, Fosun suddenly withdrew the reconstruction application to the Urban Planning Board.
The owner later proposed a revised plan, and applied to lower the development height, proposed "Conservation in Development", etc., which was finally approved by the Town Planning Board in 2019.
Shaw Studios Reconstruction was approved by scholars: The building is a boutique building and is intended to be used for "landing". The Town Planning Commission passed the Qingshuiwan Shaw Studios Reconstruction Project, which will combine commercial and residential uses and then have landmarks to disappear! ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
The Shaw Studios Redevelopment Housing Planning Department does not object to the proposal that the Town Planning Board will reduce the development height of the 11-storey building to 2 through the Shaw Studios application for residential construction.
