So, apparently Hong Kong does not have the best record when it comes to preserving historical buildings. The relative unavailability of land for development has forced the government to demolish some truly beautiful colonial-era buildings. Not (quite) so with Murray House, which used to be situated near Central on the opposite side of the island. After promising the people that Murray House would be carefully taken apart, moved, and reconstructed on a different part of the island, the government had to admit, much to its chagrin, that it had lost some of the pieces to the building and it could no longer be reconstructed. To their credit, years later, the missing pieces were rediscovered and plans were made to reconstruct Murray House at Stanley Beach. Unfortunately, most of the pieces had been kept in plastic wrapping, and the humid weather in Hong Kong played its part in erasing the chalk numbering placed on each of the bricks, creating quite a jig-saw puzzle for the reconstruction team. They did manage to rebuild Murray House, but what you see at the between the two rotund green trees are 6 extra load-bearings columns that, after completion, were left over and no one could figure out where they were supposed to go. Now Murray House is filled with touristy restaurants and such.

Location

China → Hong Kong

Photographer

John Hovell

Date taken

2007-12-30