Urban Renewal Authority pledges to consider preserving remains of 100-year-old buildings site

The Urban Renewal Authority has promised to consider an in-situ preservation of the remains of a buildings cluster that is more than a century old, instead of dismantling and reassembling it on site.

Sandwiched between Cochrane Street and Gutzlaff Street near the Mid-Levels escalator, the remains are said to be those of 10 tenement houses, or tong lau, built in 1879.

“The URA has taken a further step in adding one more viable option to preserve the site after taking into consideration the multitude of historic information and conservation proposals provided by concern groups, as well as based on our own data on structural safety,” URA managing director Wai Chi-sing wrote in his blog on Sunday.

Some 20 metres of the structures, which measure 34 metres long and four metres high, could be preserved as they are.

The other option would be to dismantle them and reassemble with salvaged bricks on the original site, but in a smaller area.

Wai said an “integrated preservation approach” would be able to highlight the structures’ historical significance and could be transformed into a “walking museum” when residents walk past the area.