The 150-year old Murray House was once one of the oldest Victorian-era
buildings in Hong Kong. Built in 1844, two years after Hong Kong was ceded to the United
Kingdom, Murray House was designed by the British army engineers and was used as barracks
by the British armies. When Hong Kong was under Japanese occupation during World War II,
the building became the Japanese army’s headquarters. Thereafter, the building housed
the offices of the Rating and Valuation Department before it was dismantled in 1983. The
building components had been stored in Tai Tam until 1998 when the Government decided to
re-erect this historical monument at Stanley.
The Shui On team
responsible for the reconstruction of the Murray House had to meet not only the structural
requirements of the Housing Department, but also the artistic requirements of the
historians specialized in the restoration of historical monuments. Since 95% of the stone
components of Murray House were preserved for reconstruction, the major challenge for Shui
On engineers was to search for the rest of the 5% that could replicate the original stone
components. While size of the original stone components varies, special attention must be
paid to control the sizes of the new stones.
Each original stone of the
Murray House was numbered indicating its original position before it was dismantled. Shui
On engineers had to re-install each of the 3,000 plus stones into its original position,
just like putting a 3000-piece puzzle back together. In order to restore the uniqueness of
the Murray House and fulfill special requirements demanded by historians, Shui On imported
a special kind of lime from Britain to seal the stones instead of the usual plaster
normally used for the purpose. In order to comply with the structural design, Shui On had
to build an inner concrete structure to support the building before the original stones
were re-installed as exterior walls of the Murray House.
Shui On Building
Contractors Limited (SOBC) is a wholly owned subsidiary of the publicly listed Shui On
Construction and Materials Limited. Being the first ISO 9002 certified construction
company in Hong Kong, SOBC is on the NW2 list of building contractors of the Hong Kong
Housing Authority and holds the Group “C” licence for public building works of
unlimited value. SOBC is also a registered building contractor of the Buildings Department
of the Hong Kong SAR Government. |
