Located in Wanchai a one of a kind residential complex

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The Blue House in Hong Kong | An Historical Anomaly

Located in Wanchai | a one of a kind residential complex

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Hong Kong - Housing for the Poor in 1922

click on the images to enlarge

An image I took of the Blue House in Wanchai in mid 2013 - character in spades!

An image I took of the Blue House in Wanchai on January 13th 2025 - character is non existent!

Historical Background

The site of the Blue House was originally occupied by a rudimentary Hospital, which was listed in the 1872 Rate Book. It was possibly the first hospital in Wanchai to provide Chinese medical services to local Chinese. It was then used in the later 1880’s as a Temple based around the God of Medicine, The ground floor of 72 Stone Nullah Lane housed this Temple, which was subsequently replaced by a martial arts school (ie Kung Fu!) in the early 1950’s and later by the existing acupuncture clinic in the 1960’s. The ownership of 72, 72A and 74 Stone Nullah Lane was surrendered to the Hong Kong Government in 1978.

Named for its eye-catching blue colour taken on during a renovation in the 1990s, the Blue House is a typical Lingnan-style house built in 1922 with wide balconies, as mentioned it’s previous tenants once included kung fu studios, Chinese clinics and a free school, and there are still residents living here. Nearby you can also find the similar Yellow House, Orange House and Green House and such.

For the record Lingnan Style is a reference to designs that came out of Southern China historically.

There is also an alternative story on why the building when undergoing renovation ended up being part blue and part unpainted (which in the major overhaul in 2016 became white) and that is the paint was ships paint leftover in a ships chandlers warehouse and they simply ran out out paint leaving 15% of the building with unpainted concrete!

For the renovation they clearly made a new batch of paint that is very close to the original blue paint and rather than unpainted concrete they used white paint.

Another story that has made the rounds is that prior to 2016 none of the apartment had toilets (I am not sure about that but certainly in 1922 and perhaps up until the mid 1970’s toilets and bathrooms in apartment blocks in poor districts were not very common) and legend has it that for many years an old gnarly gentleman with a bamboo pole and 2 large buckets would collect the human waste so to speak twice daily to be disposed off elsewhere (Hygiene in the old days was a real issue in Hong Kong) and knowing how Hong Kong stories are told that Gentleman (the poop guy) probably died a millionaire!

It is a little known fact that the complex houses 20 apartments of roughly 600sq ft each, from first viewing it does not look possible., the building is a lot bigger than it looks from the street.

Rather than trying to put my own detailed spin on this housing anomaly, please click on the link below for an article written by Zolima City Magazine which nails everything they write about (and saves a lot of research on my part)

Learn more | The excellent BLUE HOUSE article from Zolima City Magazine

Check out Hong Kong House of Stories, which assembles multiple cultures from the community for a glimpse of Hong Kong peoples’ lives in a bygone era.

This is the BLUE HOUSE which came into being in the mid 1922 and has always been a celebrated link to old Hong Kong Culture...no, this is a rather spiffy make over on the orders of the Hong Kong Government.

It is the recipient of the Award of Excellence in the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation 2017 which I am betting was initiated by the Hong Kong Tourism Board so they can bask in the glory of such an important award.

I am in two minds when it comes to the renovation, I have to say that prior to the work, the Blue House was very, very shoddy and decrepit which as far as I was concerned is | was entirely the point! however as you can see from the image it now looks very nice (or bland!) but certainly it attracts a lot more visitor and it looks as good now in 2025 almost 10 years after the major renovation.

It reminds me of the similar situation we had with Kowloon Walled City where basically many acres of buildings were simply demolished rather than preserving say one corner of the “city”

The Blue House is a little different as they have kept the structure intact but personally back in the day (2011 - 2015) I used to love taking guests to Wanchai to see the Blue House even though it was falling apart, to me that was it’s charm and you could imagine when stood in front of it what it must have been like in 1922. All of that is gone, the charm, the history and such, amazingly according to the Hong Kong Government this is the only apartment building of it’s kind from the 1920’s left in Hong Kong.. it is hard to believe that looking at the sanitized version we have today.

You can request a visit to see the Blue House on one of my private experiences and tours of Hong Kong and we can also take in one of my favourite temples 2 minutes walk away, the Pak Tai Temple from 1863. The House of Stories located in the Blue House can arrange guided tours of the complex but you have to book with them and they provide a “docent”.

ps. There has always been an issue on whether you say Wanchai or Wan Chai - apparently both are acceptable!