Pierce Brosnan played the Taipan of the Noble House, the supreme leader of the colony's most influential trading firm.

The taipan is suave yet ruthless.

The Struan's headquarters building frequently appear in the mini-series is called the Jardine House (formerly known as Connaught Center (not Connaught Centre) since completed in 1972 before a name change in mid 80s).

Developed in 70s and owned by Hongkong Land, a subsidiary of the Jardine Matheson Group (both listed in the Singapore Exchange), the Jardine House had been the most distinctive and dominant landmark building at the waterfront of the heart of Hong Kong. Jim Kinoshita of Palmer and Turner (P & T Group) was the architect.

Tall and rectangular, the 52-storey Jardine House was perfectly proportioned and well balanced. The facade of Jardine House was re-clad with aluminium panels several years after the tower was built (as the original clading failed to deliver satisfactory effect) and the new clading gave the building a shiny look, whenever in sunshine or spotlight. The extensive use of round windows had been a unique and well-known feature in building design. There were originally red aircraft warning lights at every corner at the top and certain levels of the building (see the night shot below), however the lights had been dropped in mid 80s.

Completed in 1972 and located at the harbour front of the prime business district, the Central, the Jardine House overlooked the Victoria Harbour. A higher height of the tower was achieved by scarifying the base land plot area for gardens for public use, in such way area of the base of the tower could be shifted to higher office floors. The 52-storey Connaught Center had maintained the title as the tallest building of all kinds in Hong Kong, before a newer building named Hopewell Centre (66 storeys) in Wanchai took its place in early 80s. Nevertheless, the Connaught Center continued to remain the tallest building in Central for many more years.

The base garden was given a nice touch by a well known sculpture, the 'Double Oval' by Henry Moore.

No solid evidence suggested whether the door of Jardine House had been "shifted or changed an angle" by the architect due to Fengshui reasons (said to deflect the devils from getting in the building), as depicted in the Noble House story. No history available about the positioning of the building in Fengshui sense either. Nonetheless, in reality, prior consultation from Fengshui men before construction of a building was not uncommon in Hong Kong.

Related links:
Hongkong Land
skyscrapers.com

In the novel Ian Dunross drives a classic Jaguar E-type, while in the mini-series he drives a classy Mercedes-Benz 560 SEC.

560 SEC was debut in 1986 and it was the most modern top-of-the-line Mercedes available in 1988, when the mini-series was filmed.

In abundance of style and image, 560 SEC represents a perfect combination of aesthetic elegance and performance. The gold 560SEC featured in the mini-series matches seamlessly with the elegantly dressed Noble House Taipan.

The saloon sibling of the coupe, a black W126 500 SEL, was also featured in the China plot in the Mini-series (Ian looks for financial support from Tsu Yan in Beijing).

In the begining of the mini-series, Ian also drove a Mercedes, a red W 107 500 SLC, before he was crowned the Taipan of the Noble House.

Related links about C126 560SEC:


The Ian Dunross Mercedes-Benz W126 S-class Homepage

The white, colonial styled Taipan residence is the Victoria House, situated at 15 Barker Road at the Peak.

According to SCMP, the Victoria House had 3,005 square metres and contained two sitting rooms, a dining room, three bedrooms and a study. It came with many luxurious features you might expect for a house in this class such as a huge garden (as seen in the evening party in the mini-series), a swimming pool and a tennis court. Not to forget a spacious house frontage carpark (where the Dunross' 560 SEC, Lando Mata's white Aston Martin Lagonda V8 usually appear).

Before 1997, the Victoria House had been the residence of the colony's Chief Secretary . It is now the residence of the Chief Secretary for Administration of the HKSAR.