Tiger Balm Garden (Hong Kong)

For other places with the same name, see Tiger Balm Garden.
1940 picture of the Tiger Pagoda.

Tiger Balm Garden (虎豹別墅), also called Aw Boon Haw Garden, was located at 15, Tai Hang Road, Tai Hang, Wan Chai District, Hong Kong. The garden was adjoining the Haw Par Mansion and its private garden. The Tiger Balm Garden was demolished for redevelopment[1] in 2004.[2] The Haw Par Mansion and its private garden have been preserved.[3]

The Hong Kong Haw Par Mansion and its formerly adjoining Tiger Balm Garden were one of three Tiger Balm mansions and gardens. The others are located in Singapore (now the Haw Par Villa) and in Fujian province, where the gardens remain.[2]

History

1965 photograph of some of the figures in the garden

The landscaped garden was built at a cost of HK$16 million by Aw Boon Haw and his family in 1935.[4] Opened to the public in the early 1950s, it was one of the first theme parks in Hong Kong. In 1985, the garden was converted into the "Haw Par Villa" amusement park. Many of the sculptures were replaced by rides at that time, and were later replaced again by the old statues.[2]

In 1998 the heir to the property, Sally Aw Sian, sold the entire Garden complex to the land development company Cheung Kong for redevelopment.[2][5] The Hong Kong Government reached an agreement with Cheung Kong that, as part of the redevelopment, the Hong Kong Antiquities and Monuments Office (AMO) was to preserve and restore the Haw Par Mansion itself together with its private garden as a museum.[6]

When the Tiger Balm Garden was demolished for redevelopment[1] in 2004, many of the garden's murals and statues were salvaged by the AMO.[2] The site of the Garden is now occupied by the residential development The Legend at Jardine's Lookout.[2] Occupancy of the residence started in the first quarter of 2007.[7]

Features

The original gardens covered eight acres (3.2 hectares).[1] A 7-storey Tiger Pagoda was the highlight of the garden. Other tourist attractions included artificial Chinese landscaping dotted with sculptures.

Haw Par Mansion

Street level view of Haw Par Mansion, with its pagoda-shaped gateway.

The 3-storey Haw Par Mansion was the Aw family's residence in Hong Kong. It was built in 1935 in the Chinese Renaissance style.[3] There are more than 500 relics in the Mansion; they underwent restoration and repair.[8] The building became a Grade II historic building[9] in 2000[3] and was granted Grade I status on 18 December 2009.[10]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Hong Kong Island West Drainage Tunnel. Impact on cultural heritage. January 2006
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Doug Meigs, "Balmy days of Tiger Balm heritage", China Daily eClips, Nov 11 2010
  3. 1 2 3 Brief Information on Proposed Grade I Items. Item #94
  4. ↑ orientalarchitecture.com "Tiger Balm Gardens (1935)"
  5. ↑ Leung, Ambrose; Lai, Chloe (2 May 2007). "Nobody wants the Haw Par Mansion". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 6 December 2015.
  6. ↑ Antiquities and Monuments Office.2004(DEC).Heritage Hong Kong(14)
  7. ↑ thaiworldview.com "Tiger Balm Garden"
  8. ↑ Antiquities and Monument Office. 2006. Heritage Hong Kong(16).
  9. ↑ "List of Graded Historic Buildings in Hong Kong (as at 6 November 2009)" (PDF). (387 KB)
  10. ↑ List of the Historic Buildings in Building Assessment (as of 25 January 2011)

Media related to Tiger Balm Garden (Hong Kong) at Wikimedia Commons
Media related to Haw Par Mansion at Wikimedia Commons

Coordinates: 22°16′35.1″N 114°11′43.1″E / 22.276417°N 114.195306°E / 22.276417; 114.195306

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