Are you interested about “Blue House”(藍屋)? You go to there because of its special appearance? Do you want to know where does the name of "Blue House" come from? Let me introduce you firstly.
"Blue House" is a four-storey building, which is named from the brilliant blue colour painted on its external walls. When we come closer to the building, it is not difficult to recognize that not all the external walls are coloured in blue! It was said that the workers of the Lands Department only got blue paint during the period of repairing work, so it was used to renovate the external wall at the time.
It is situated at 72 Stone Nullah Lane in Wanchai, named for the brilliant blue colour painted on its external walls. It’s a pre-war building with more than seventy years of history that shows architectural characteristics of both Chinese and Western styles. Many of the internal structures like purlin, staircase, and railing are still preserved in their authentic wooden fabric.
It is one of the few remaining examples of Tong Lau of the balcony type in Hong Kong and it’s classified as Grade I historic building now.
About the Blue House, the upper floors is apart from 72 Stone Nullah Lane, are of timber structures. It’s contains two wooden stairs with all the original elements intact, are well maintained. Since there is no flushing toilet facility inside the building, it still needs the service of "Tao Ye Heung" (somebody helps to remove the excrement from the building every night)!
Recently, the building was part of a HK$100 million plan, unveiled by the Housing Society and the Urban Renewal Authority. It aims to preserve nine Chinese-style buildings in Wan Chai.
As time changes, most of old building may be demolished or left abandoned. We hoped that the "Blue House" can also be turned into a living history museum, which to illustrate the perplexing past of Wanchai to Hong Kong peoples especially to the future young generations.
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