Murray House is a Victorian-era building in

Stanley Stanley may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Stanley'' (1972 film), an American horror film * ''Stanley'' (1984 film), an Australian comedy * ''Stanley'' (1999 film), an animated short * ''Stanley'' (1956 TV series) ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

. Built in the present-day

business district A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the " city ...

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

in 1846 as officers' quarters of the

Murray Barracks Murray Barracks () was a barracks for the British Army garrisoned in Admiralty, Central in Hong Kong. It was named after Sir George Murray, the Master-General of the Ordnance at the time of construction. Location It was situated between present ...

,Antiquities and Monuments Offices – Old Site of Murray House
/ref> the building was moved to the south of

Hong Kong Island Hong Kong Island is an Islands and peninsulas of Hong Kong, island in the southern part of Hong Kong. Known colloquially and on road signs simply as Hong Kong, the island has a population of 1,289,500 and its population density is 16,390/km ...

during the 2000s.This building has become an iconic landmark in Hong Kong. After housing the Hong Kong Maritime Museum, now in Stanley, it is now home to restaurants and shops.

Architecture

Murray House was one of the oldest surviving public buildings in Hong Kong. Similar to many of its contemporaries from the early colonial era, it was designed in

Classical architecture Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the works of the Roman architect V ...

style. The heavy stone walls (with

flat arch A jack arch is a structural element in masonry construction that provides support at openings in the masonry. Alternate names are "flat arch" and "straight arch". Unlike regular arches, jack arches are not semicircular in form. Instead, they are ...

ed opening) are on the ground floor to give a sense of stability, while the lighter

Doric Doric may refer to: * Doric, of or relating to the Dorians of ancient Greece ** Doric Greek, the dialects of the Dorians * Doric order, a style of ancient Greek architecture * Doric mode, a synonym of Dorian mode * Doric dialect (Scotland) * Doric ...

and Ionic columns are on the floors above to allow better ventilation. All floors have

veranda A veranda or verandah is a roofed, open-air gallery or porch, attached to the outside of a building. A veranda is often partly enclosed by a railing and frequently extends across the front and sides of the structure. Although the form ''veran ...

s on all sides in response to the local

subtropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical zone, geographical and Köppen climate classification, climate zones to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Geographical z ...

monsoons A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscill ...

climate.

History

Early history

Murray House was built in 1846 as officers' quarters of the

during the early years of British rule. It was named after

Sir George Murray Sir George Murray (6 February 1772 – 28 July 1846) was a British soldier and politician from Scotland. Background and education Murray was born in Perth, Scotland, the second son of Sir William Murray, of Ochtertyre, 5th Baronet (see Murra ...

, the British

Master-General of the Ordnance The Master-General of the Ordnance (MGO) was a very senior British military position from 1415 to 2013 (except 1855–1895 and 1939–1958) with some changes to the name, usually held by a serving general. The Master-General of the Ordnance was ...

at the time. The designer and constructor were Major

Edward Aldrich Colonel Edward Aldrich (30 December 1802 – 23 November 1857) was a British military engineer, architect and surveyor of the Corps of Royal Engineers who carried out the first detailed survey of Palestine together with John Symonds, RE. Car ...

and Lieutenant

Thomas Bernard Collinson Major General Thomas Bernard Collinson (17 November 1821 – 1 May 1902) was an English military engineer of the Corps of Royal Engineers who carried out the earliest British surveys of Hong Kong, and planned roads and other early military and ...

of the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

Japanese occupation

During the 44-month

Japanese occupation of Hong Kong The Imperial Japanese occupation of Hong Kong began when the Governor of Hong Kong, Sir Mark Young, surrendered the British Crown colony of Hong Kong to the Empire of Japan on 25 December 1941. The surrender occurred after 18 days of fierce ...

, the building was used as the command centre by the Japanese military police. It was also the execution place for some Chinese citizens.

Post-war period

After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, several government departments used the building as offices, including the Rating and Valuation Department, starting in 1965. The building was believed to be haunted and was exorcised twice. One of the exorcism ceremonies was held in 1963, the other one was held in 1974 and was televised. Since it was a government building, the Government granted permission for the exorcism to be performed.

Move to Stanley

In 1982, the historical landmark was dismantled to yield to the new Bank of China Tower. Over 3,000 building blocks were labelled and catalogued for future restoration. In 1990, the

Housing Department Housing Department (房屋署) is a department of Hong Kong Government and is the executive arm of the Hong Kong Housing Authority , managing public housing estates which is a statutory organisation tasked to develop and implement a public ...

proposed the resurrection of the building in Stanley. The building was restored in 2001 and reopened in 2002. Originally classified as a Grade I building, the rebuilt House was not graded, as it was considered that the relocation project had failed to meet the international standard for heritage preservation.Heritage Preservation: Hong Kong and Overseas Experiences
p.16

Hong Kong Maritime Museum

The

Hong Kong Maritime Museum Hong Kong Maritime Museum is a non-profit educational institution funded by the international shipping community and the government in Hong Kong. It is located at Central Pier 8, Hong Kong. The museum was established on 8 September in 2005 and ...

was established on the ground floor of Murray House in 2005, then moved to Pier 8 in Central in February 2013.

References

External links

Video on its history
(large 7MB, direct download link)
Satellite view of the site
– building at centre of image. * Pictures of Murray House in its original location

* {{coord, 22.2182, 114.2097, type:landmark_source:enwiki-googlemaplink, display=title Buildings and structures in Hong Kong Central, Hong Kong Stanley, Hong Kong Monuments and memorials in Hong Kong Tourist attractions in Hong Kong British colonial architecture