Victor Li Tzar-kuoi’s denial this week that his family home was being sold has stirred public curiosity about the address that has been the residence of one of Hong Kong’s wealthiest families and property developers for more than six decades.
Located at 79 Deep Water Bay Road in the Southern district of Hong Kong Island, the mansion features three stories that sit atop an elevated podium with a swimming pool and a lawn to one side.
The original building was bought in 1963 for HK$650,000 by Chong Yuet-ming, the late wife of tycoon Li Ka-shing. The building was previously registered to Thomas Le Cheuk-kuen, a local accountant who was the president of the Society of Chinese Accountants and Auditors of Hong Kong, according to Land Registry records.
The Li family has lived at the same address ever since. They raised both their sons, Victor and Richard Li Tzar-kai, there. Victor and his wife, Cynthia Wong, and their children still live there with their father, who turned 97 last month.
After Chong died in 1990, the deed of the property was transferred to Victor Li in 1991 as the administrator, and then registered under Li Ka-shing’s name by assent in 1994.
