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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.
 
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