|
Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the owner of the building,
decided to demolish it and redevelop the site into a religious cum
education center in July 2002. Because of public objection to the
demolition, the church agreed to enter into negotiation with the
Government in late 2002. However, there was no breakthrough in the
talks after a year. CA wrote a letter to the headquarters of the
church in Salt Lake City, USA and facilitated the consensus between
the Government and the owner of Kom Tong Hall in late February. The
Government will acquire Kom Tong Hall at a cost of $53 million and
convert it into Dr Sun Yat-sen Museum. We believed that this win-win
situation is indeed what we cherish. The success has shown the
community’s higher value towards our heritage.
Built
in 1914 by the younger brother of Eurasian tycoon Sir Robert Ho Tung,
Ho Kom Tong, the building consists of three
floors with granite pillars and wrought-iron balconies on the 2nd
and 3rd floors. It
retained the class-conscious of the traditional society –
two stairs cases, one for the use Ho's
family and the other solely for servants.

In 1959 the house was first sold and in 1971 the
Mormon Church acquired the building and used it until now. The
mansion was declared grade two historical building in 1990 by the
Antiquities Advisory Board. |