Mei Ho House
美荷樓
Mei Ho House in 2013, after renovation
General information
LocationShek Kip Mei Estate, Sham Shui Po, Hong Kong
Coordinates22°20′02″N 114°09′49″E / 22.33395°N 114.163705°E / 22.33395; 114.163705
Opening24 October 2013 (2013-10-24)
ManagementHong Kong Youth Hostels Association
AffiliationHostelling International
Other information
Number of rooms129
Number of restaurants1
ParkingNo
Website
www.yha.org.hk/en/hostel/yha-mei-ho-house-youth-hostel/
Mei Ho House
Traditional Chinese美荷樓
Simplified Chinese美荷楼
Cantonese Yaleméih hòh làuh
Literal meaningbeautiful lotus building

Mei Ho House (Chinese: 美荷樓), formerly part of Shek Kip Mei Estate, Hong Kong, is the last remaining example of a "Mark I" building in a single-block configuration. While the other buildings of the estate dating from the 1950s have been demolished, being replaced by new ones, Mei Ho House was chosen to be preserved and was reopened in 2013 as a youth hostel and heritage museum.[1]

History

Mei Ho during the 1956 riots. A banner can be clearly seen hanging from the building.

After a devastating fire in December 1953 that left thousands homeless, the Colonial government built a 29-block resettlement estate on the site of the burnt-down shanties to house the homeless victims.[2] Eight blocks (Blocks A to H), later renumbered as Blocks 10 through 13 and 35 through to 41, were constructed with the financial aid of the United Nations (Mei Ho House is Block H, later Block 41). These 7-storey blocks were constructed in the Bauhaus architectural style[3][4] with an 'H' configuration consisting of 2 residential wings, with communal sanitary facilities linking them.

During the Hong Kong 1956 riots, the building was used as one of the bases for the rioters.

Preservation

Fullcup Cafe after revitalization in 2013
The hostel inside Mei Ho House

The building has been preserved as a record of Hong Kong's public housing development. It was listed as a Grade I historic building in 2005 and as a Grade II historic building in 2010.[5]

In 2008, it was part of the seven buildings of Batch I of the Hong Kong Government's Revitalising Historic Buildings Through Partnership Scheme.[6] On 17 February 2009, the government declared that the building would be used by the Hong Kong Youth Hostels Association as "City Hostel". The capital cost of the project was estimated at HK$192.3 million. Estimated completion time was 2012.[7] The hostel would also have an exhibition area with guided tour detailing the living environment of public housing units in the past.[8]

The renovation project received an Honourable Mention in the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation in 2015.[1]

Youth Hostel

Mei Ho House Youth Hostel was open for business from Thursday, 24 October 2013. A dormitory room with four bunk beds costs from HK$260 per person. A double room costs from HK$680 per night while a family room costs from HK$1,320. At the opening, Chief Secretary for Administration Carrie Lam described it as a "pioneering renovation project" for a public housing estate and "very meaningful."[9]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Project profiles for 2015 UNESCO Heritage Award winners" (PDF). UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation. UNESCO. p. 5.
  2. ↑ Choi, Barry (30 June 1975). "Housing means more than a roof" (PDF). South China Morning Post. Retrieved 7 February 2007.
  3. ↑ "Why Hong Kong is Building Apartments the Size of Parking Spaces". Bloomberg.com. 9 November 2021.
  4. ↑ Lai, Alexis (23 December 2013). "Hong Kong's Mei Ho House Museum and Hostel Brings New Life to Shek Kip Mei - WSJ". Wall Street Journal.
  5. ↑ List of the Historic Buildings in Building Assessment Archived 22 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ↑ Conserve and Revitalise Hong Kong Heritage: Batch I of Revitalisation Scheme
  7. ↑ Batch I of Revitalisation Scheme – Result of Selection – Mei Ho House as City Hostel
  8. ↑ "Mei Ho House of Livelihood". Hong Kong Youth Hostels Association. Archived from the original on 25 April 2012. Retrieved 9 October 2011.
  9. ↑ Qi Luo (22 October 2013). "Hostel brings new life to estate block". The Standard. Archived from the original on 23 October 2013.
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