Murray House Was Built Twice

In August 1982, a 6,700-square-meter (72,000-square-foot) plot of land located in Central, the financial heart of Hong Kong, was sold to the Hong Kong branch of the Bank of China. This plot of land would soon become the site of the Bank of China Tower, the city’s first super-tall building (i.e., a building exceeding 1,000 feet in height).

However, prior to the construction of the Bank of China Tower, the plot was occupied by one of Hong Kong's oldest standing buildings, known as Murray House. A relic from Hong Kong's early colonial era, Murray House was built in 1846, only five years after Hong Kong Island had been ceded by the Qing Dynasty to the British Empire.

In 1982, to make way for the Bank of China Tower, Murray House was dismantled into 3,000 labeled pieces to be rebuilt elsewhere in the city. But it wasn't until 2001, nearly two decades later, that the building was restored in Stanley, alongside Blake Pier, another relic of Central’s past, approximately 8 kilometers (5 miles) from its original location.

Unfortunately, the relocation project failed to meet international preservation standards, resulting in Murray House losing its Grade I building status.

Since then, Murray House has been repurposed to house restaurants and shops.