Murray House - Murray Barracks Officer's Mess [1846-1982] | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

Murray House - Murray Barracks Officer's Mess [1846-1982]

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Submitted by annelisec on Sat, 2010-02-13 16:53
Current condition: 
Demolished / No longer exists
Date Place completed: 
1846-01-01
Date Place demolished: 
1982-01-01

Murray House was taken apart, put in boxes, and re-erected in Stanley twenty years later.

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Submitted by David on Sat, 2010-02-27 17:38.

Here's a video about the history of the building, found via Wikipedia's entry for Murray House.

Submitted by philk on Sat, 2010-02-27 22:03.

Jason Wordie mentions in his Streets: HK ISland book that when the building was reconstructed in Stanley, rather than reassemble it like a large jigsaw - a commonly held misconception - the builders actually just created a brand new concrete internal structure and hung the verandhas off it.

Submitted by annelisec on Sat, 2010-02-27 22:32.

A friend told me that there were several boxes missing and so the building is a few metres shorter that the original,  and that many of the markings on the stones were rubbed off - so they did, indeed, have the piece much of it together jigsaw style.

Submitted by philk on Sun, 2010-02-28 00:21.

The fact that they lost stuff is so tragic it's almost funny. Anyway, certainly explains why they opted  for the concrete block interior.

Submitted by TK on Sun, 2010-03-21 06:04.

Murray House in Central was rumored to be haunted as it was used by the Japanese to execute prisoners during WW2.

Over the years until the building was moved, there were ghost sightings and other unexplainable incidents reported on that site.

Submitted by David on Fri, 2012-06-22 10:19.

is given on the AMO page "Old Site of the Murray House".

Submitted by tngan on Fri, 2012-06-22 14:42.

Hi there,

It was in the news back then.  That was when the Inalnd Revenue occupied the Murray House.  Some highlighted as reported:

-   Files would be moved around the premises in the evenings;

-   A typewriter originally being put on a secretary's desk had disappeared and was found in the desk drawer later.  The issue is, the opening of the drawer is a bit smaller than the typewriter;

After this incident, the Beaconsfield House was also being flagged as haunted.  Government Information Service (GIS), a Post Office and a public toilet occupied the house by then.  This I heard from one of my Uncles:

-   Lights would be switched on by itself;

-   In the evenings and upon a certain corridor, one would be forced to walk on a certain side of it even if you are not initially doing so;

-   weird sounds behind doors;

Oh well.........

Best Regards,

T

Submitted by David on Tue, 2012-06-26 14:41.

as the Murray barracks and officers' quarters are already shown on this map from 1845.

Regards, David