With Chinese tiled roofs, Victorian arches and verandahs, and subtly built-in modern display facilities, the Hong Kong Heritage Discovery Centre will be ready to reveal the stories of ancient Hong Kong on Saturday.
The centre in Kowloon Park was adapted from a pair of two-storey military barracks built in 1910 as part of Whitfield Barracks. They are classified as Grade III historical buildings.
After two years under renovation, with a budget of $15 million, it is now a permanent venue for the Antiquities and Monuments Office to stage exhibitions and educational activities to promote understanding of local heritage and its preservation.
We want to bring life back to historic structures while respecting their cultural significance,' said Simon Kong Ha-wing from the Architectural Services Department.
Two century-old trees have been preserved in the courtyard at the heart of the complex, which will be converted into an outdoor cafeteria next year. A three-tonne bronze gate that served as the main gate of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank Building in 1933 has been used as the entrance of the centre's thematic exhibition gallery.
Ada Yau, curator of the centre, said there were many complexities in adapting the historic military buildings to suit the purposes of modern display and education.
