Hong Kong’s historic Haw Par Mansion, built by the tycoon behind the Tiger Balm heat rub, will reopen to the public on Friday after an attempt to run a music school on the site failed and the government resumed control last year.
Free guided tours, with a maximum of 24 people per group, will be offered in Cantonese on Fridays, weekends and public holidays, except for the first three days of Lunar New Year.
The tours will cover the many rooms of the 87-year-old mansion, including its private garden, built by the eccentric Aw Boon Haw.
Constructed in 1936, the mansion was once part of a larger eight-acre park called “Tiger Balm Garden” featuring surreal Buddhist-themed displays and open to the public.
The park was demolished in 2004 and replaced by four blocks of luxury flats, but the main building remains, an example of Chinese Renaissance architectural style that blended East and Western influences.
Haw Par Mansion: 1930’s splendour given new lease of life as music academy
For example, double Chinese-style moon gates on the first floor are adorned with Italian stained-glass decals, while a mirror gifted by late KMB founder Ng Hoi-lam celebrating the mansion’s completion is prominently displayed in the dining room.
On the second floor, visitors can glimpse the foyer where a scene from the popular 2023 Hong Kong movie A Guilty Conscience was filmed.Aw’s heir Sally Aw Sian sold the entire site to Cheung Kong Holdings in 1998, but the government convinced the developer to hand over the mansion and private garden a year later for conservation purposes.
The mansion was included in the third batch of the government’s Revitalisation Scheme, which aims to preserve and update the city’s historic buildings. It was also awarded Grade 1 heritage status in 2009, the highest rating apart from declared monuments.
Haw Par Mansion was then handed over to the Aw Boon Haw Foundation and the Haw Par Music Foundation Limited (HPMF), both founded by Sally Aw, for restoration and management.
Haw Par Mansion reopens but memory of its famous gardens lingers
It opened as a Chinese and Western music training centre in 2019 after a three-year revitalisation sponsored by the government costing HK$167 million, according to an estimation in 2015.
Authorities announced last year it would resume control of the mansion that December after HPMF reported difficulties in running the site, leading authorities to end the tenancy agreement that was due to expire in 2025.
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